Fighting for Equal Pay
by This week, I’m hitting the campaign trail. I’m heading back to Virginia and North Carolina, excited to meet lots of people, hear lots of stories, and share Barack’s plans for bringing the change we need to the country we love.
During the past 19 months, I’ve learned that, at its best, “campaigning” is just another word for “talking with people.” And talking with people is something I truly love to do. That’s why, since the beginning of this campaign, I’ve been hosting roundtable discussions—particularly with two groups of people that America doesn’t hear from enough: working mothers and military spouses.
In these conversations, we all get together around a coffee table and just talk—about our kids, our jobs, our dreams—and the hectic, funny, sometimes frustrating, often rewarding realities of our lives.
I’ll be having two roundtable chats this week—one in Richmond, Virginia, and one in Charlotte, North Carolina.
In Virginia, I’ll have a special guest with me: Lilly Ledbetter.
Perhaps some of you may have never heard her name before—but she is right in the middle of a crucial legislative battle that will have an effect on the lives of millions of American women now and for generations to come.
Lilly is from Alabama. For nearly 20 years, she worked for a Goodyear tire plant. She was the only female supervisor—so you know this is a tough, hard-working woman. One day, someone sent her an anonymous letter with a list of salaries of her co-workers. That’s how she found out that she was making less than the men she worked with—even men who were less senior than she was. And we’re not talking about a few dollars. Some of her male counterparts were making 40 percent more than she was—for doing the same work.
Over 20 years, that adds up to a lot of money—money that could have helped Lilly send her kids to college, provide some comfort in her everyday life, or prepare for her retirement.
So Lilly did the brave and difficult thing. She confronted this injustice. Her case went all the way to the Supreme Court. And in a 5-to-4 decision, the Supreme Court ruled that, according to the law, Lilly only had 180 days to complain about the pay discrimination. So because it had taken her 20 years to find out the truth, she had missed her chance at justice.
Well, some people in Congress decided to change that law, so it would no longer reward employers for hiding discrimination until they ran out the clock. Last July, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act passed the House. But this April, Republicans in the Senate blocked it. Now, Democrats in the Senate are working to bring Lilly’s bill back for another vote this fall.
My husband is a proud supporter of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.
Senator McCain does not support it. In fact, Senator McCain said that what women really need is more education and training.
But Lilly Ledbetter had plenty of training. What she doesn’t have is the right to fight for the pay she deserves.
Pay equity is a major issue at stake in this election. Today, across the country, women are paid only 77 cents for every dollar a man earns, and minority women are paid even less for equal work. This isn’t only an economic issue. This is a family issue. When women are paid less than men, their kids pay the price.
Pay equity is just one example of how times are tough for American families. Parents are working harder than ever to do it all—raise their kids, pay the bills, help out their parents, and keep up with the rising cost of living. Caring for their families is their greatest joy—but it’s getting harder to make ends meet.
Barack understands this. And he’s committed to restoring the middle class.
Under the Obama economic plan, 95 percent of middle-class families would receive a tax cut. And because so many people are struggling with the rising cost of energy, Barack would provide a $1,000 emergency energy rebate to working families.
Barack would also fight to establish pay equity for women and expand family leave—because today, over 22 million working women don’t have a single paid sick day.
Finding ways to better support America’s families is Barack’s focus, and my passion. When families are healthy, communities thrive. We really are all in this together. We should have government policies that reflect this reality to – as my husband says – make the world as it is and the world as it should be one in the same.
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Comments
Dealing with the Real Issues, Real Leadership
This is the kind of leadership that I want in place as my daughter prepares to finish college and my son prepares to finish high school. As young people, they need to know that their country's leaders are thinking about fairness and equity for all PEOPLE and progressive policies to encourage businesses to thrive without decimating the environment. They need to know that there are smart, compassionate and honest men and women leading. People like you and our next President, your husband, Senator Obama.
This is the standard our kids expect and we ought to deliver nothing less. I'm praying sound minds pervail and that we as a nation respond accordingly and put into office the leader for our time, Barack Obama.
Thank you for sharing your messages with us on BlogHer.
Sharon McMillan
http://www.newurbanmom.com
Another Reason to Vote Obama
Because unlike Senator McCain, who did not vote for equal pay- saying women needed more education and training- Senator Obama supports Lily Ledbetter.
I'm glad to see you'll be with her, Michelle...looking forward to the stories from your experience.
Politics & News Contributing Editor
Queen of Spain
Thank you
I want to thank you and your husband for all the hard work you and your team are doing to try and change our government. Equal pay for women is so vital and long overdue.
I think this election is so important and going against my previous views on privacy, I decided to be public about what I'm going to be voting for and against in this coming election: http://leahpeah.com/blog/posts/2008/09/1150
My highest regards,
Leah Peterson
www.leahpeah.com/blog
Wow Leah!
Knowing those previous views on privacy- am thrilled to see this election has moved you in this way!
Politics & News Contributing Editor
Queen of Spain
Thank you!
Mrs. Obama, thank you for championing working women and military spouses. I'll be at the event in Richmond and I'm so looking forward to hearing Ms. Ledbetter's story, and her thoughts on the matter, in person.
Also, as a military spouse and Blue Star Families for Obama member, I have to say thank you for listening to us. I was at your roundtable in Norfolk and, while I loved hearing you talk about what your husband will do to help vets and military members, I loved hearing you listen to our questions even more. You and your husband have shown your committment to women and to the military through your actions and your proposals for the future.
Unfortunately, Senator McCain doesn't seem to have a single concrete proposal to help working women, military service members, or military families. He hasn't been to Hampton Roads to listen to us either. Hell, he hasn't even been down here for a rally and Governor Palin "postponed" her appearance here planned for 9/18.
I'll work tirelessly to get your message out because I know y'all will work tirelessly for us.
Stephanie Himel-Nelson
Lawyer Mama
http://lawyermama.com
http://MOMocrats.typepad.com
http://dcmetromoms.com
Spare me.
I hope you are pleased with yourself exploiting and coopting the reputation of a cherished non-partisan organization for political purposes. Shame! Do you realize (or care) that you have made it difficult for the legitimate "Blue Star Families" to fundraise for troop morale and welfare? I have even had to take down my Blue Star Flag because of assumptions that I support Obama.
Okay, Ms. Cheerleader, where has Obama and Co been the last seven years this war has been waged? Please cite ALL the legislation that Obama has championed and taken the LEAD on, contrary to his party, that supports military families? If VA weren't a swing state, you wouldn't even be on Obama's radar.
I've been trying to find all those hearings that Obama convened when he was a subcommittee chair on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, since he professes such concern over GWOT and Afghanistan, etc etc etc. Uhh...haven't found any, coz there AREN'T any.
So far, faux concern 3, real results, 0.
But you keep cheering. And drinking the Kool Aid. And pretending that your 500 members constitute a significant number of "Military Families for Obama".
Barack Obama Supported and Voted For
The new GI bill. Senator McCain didn't even vote.
Actually, according to Project Vote Smart, McCain hasn't voted on the last 5 defense-related measures, meaning none in 2008.
Also, Senator McCain voted against minimum rest periods between deployments, a measure which Senator Obama supported and voted for.
Edited to add: Additionally, Barack Obama voted for the Additional Funding for Veterans Amendment and the Health Care for Veterans amendment, in 2005. McCain voted against both of these measures, which failed to pass. I can find no instances in which McCain voted for anything which would benefit military families.
Could you please tell me what specifically you are referring to?
Tacoma Mama
Shame
My father, a retired Army Colonel, is appalled by the Bush administration's lack of real care for our service men and women, but particularly appalled by the shameful treatment of our veterans.
For "moonpie" to attack Ms. Obama in such a partisan and hateful manner is one of the most shamefulmoments I have had to endure.
We Americans know that We The People were bamboozled into this war, and I could understand if "moonpie" were angry over her family's also being shamefully snookered. That you would take out your justifiable rage over Bush lies and scapegoating, only tells us one thing:
You, ma'am, have no shame.
We The People are taking this wonderful country back from the liars and bigots, and We are proud, and happy to be a part of the change from idiocy to sanity. It is high time.
Keep on keepin' on, Ms. Obama!
Thank you
For sharing these points and for talking with us, not to us. I look forward to voting Obama/Biden and welcome the change ya'll are bringing. Let's keep looking to our future and making a difference!
Please Tell Barack to Get Tougher and Use
SoundBites.
Get out there and campaign hard, and make Barack say something that takes out Sarah Palin before she gets McCain elected and I have to leave the country. Please....I have daughters.
Francine Hardaway, Ph.D
"It's not what happens to you; it's how you come to it."
http://blog.stealthmode.com
What about the Fathers???
Michele says"Barack would also fight to establish pay equity for women and expand
family leave—because today, over 22 million working women don’t have a
single paid sick day."
I feel she is discriminating against Single Fathers here. Alot of men are in the same situation and they need to have the same rights too! Not just the single moms!
Check out Barack's site Carole
http://www.barackobama.com/issues/family/
Carole,
You are correct, in this post Michelle has addressed women, probably because this is primarily a women's site. The link I put above is to Barack's family issues page and it lists his agenda that relates to single dads as well as all families, things like getting sick time for those in the private sector, and increasing access to after school care as well as specific ways he wants to increase coverage on the FMLA. Although McCain's site says he supports the FMLA (because he voted for it back in 1993) there is no talk of his current plans to expand upon it.
Michelle,
Best of luck on the campaign. I am confident that Obama/Biden can not only address the economic and national defense issues, but that they can take women's rights in America to a place they have never before been before. Women's rights - equal pay and maternity leave - has always been such a huge question mark in America for me. It just makes no sense on any level that such a rich nation cannot appreciate the importance of pausing to recoup, adjust and celebrate the addition of a baby to a family, by taking an extended leave from work and knowing that you will have a job to go back to. Although admirable, the ordinary woman is not Sarah Palin and may need more than 3 days maternity leave.
I think sometimes lawyers forget
(Esp Constitutional Law Professors :) to make these points, but if the family leave act were expanded it would apply to men and women equally. (It would have to.)
Tacoma Mama
One more thing...
Thank you for the community service day in Denver. I was at the care package event for military members and I loved seeing how all of your family members and friends (and your gorgeous little girls) got involved as well. I want to teach my little boys (ages 2 and 3 - turning 4 TOMORROW) how important it is to give back to the community and your example really helps.
When I came back from the DNC, my 3 year old, Hollis, told me he'd watched and that "the lady" and "Barap" were his friends. He's not great with names, but I can't tell you how that warmed my heart. If a 3 year old can see what beautiful people you both are, I'm sure the voters will too.
http://momocrats.typepad.com/momocrats/2008/08/the-dnc-obama-a.html
Lawyer Mama
http://lawyermama.com
http://momocrats.typepad.com
http://dcmetromoms.com
Thank you for focusing on issues here and
elsewhere.
Thanks for taking Lilly's story with you in the work you're doing. I heard her speak at Invesco and she became another of my role models for speaking up, especially when it's unpopular.
I don't have children but I have seen my extended family - including my middle-aged parents - make tough choices based on salary and benefits, and as a single woman responsible for myself and potentially them as well as I get older, I worry that whatever I do won't be enough to keep me from working way past my prime. I do have more hope when I hear your husband and now you speak - and even more because I believe there is a better chance for all of us if Sen. Obama is elected.
Thank you.
Laurie
LaurieWrites
So...speaking of equal pay
Does it trouble you that Obama's female staffers only make 83 cents for every dollar the male staffers on his staff make? However, McCain's female staffers make 1.04 for every dollar male staffers make on his staff.
Granted, that is because McCain has more women in the top advising positions on his staff, thus the disparity.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/378772_murdockonline12.html
http://www.legistorm.com/blog/obama-s-alleged-pay-gap.html
~TW
Retro-Food
Don't worry about it...
This is typical "do as I say, not as I do".
Obama talks a good game about equal pay, yet doesn't treat his female staffers fairly. He talks a nice game about concern for women's issues, but according to PUMA, refused to consider gender parity in the makeup of his cabinet if he won the election.
Obama talks a good game about public schools, but doesn't practice what he preaches, putting his kids in tony private schools, while denying other families the same opportunity through vouchers.
Obama gets on the soapbox and professes concern for military families, but voted against funding for equipment my husband and his troops needed while they were forward deployed in Iraq.
Don't be surprised. It's the Obama way.
Obama. Whatever I need you to believe in, so I can win.
I checked this out
In all but one instance, female staffers make as much as or more than their male counterparts when they hold the same job title. For more information, see my detailed comment below.
Tacoma Mama
Tacoma Mama, you rock and
Tacoma Mama, you rock and are totally doing your bit. Keep it up!
Your argument is incorrect
I've read all these sites. Obama does not pay female and male staffers differently for the same job. These articles are absolutely MISLEADING. McCain has hired some women in his top staff positions so they naturally get paid higher salaries. But paying a few women more does not mean caring for pay equity.
McCain is against equal pay. He votes against it. He does not support women.
Obama does.
please stop trying to mislead people
No....
You're the one misleading people.
CBS already broke this story.
In addition to being a sexist and employer of e-mail thieves, Obama's a HYPOCRITE:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/09/12/opinion/main4443922.shtml
CBS did not "break" that
CBS did not "break" that story. If you follow your own link, you will notice that it is in the "Opinion" section (not news) and was written by a right wing pundit named Deroy Murdock who writes for the National Review, a magazine for conservative commentary (again, not news).
Because if Deroy Murdock was a journalist who had done his homework, he couldn't have written this opinion piece. As it is, Deroy Murdock is a a public relations representative who works for the Republicans and has no bipartisan credibility.
And if you think the hackers of 4chan works for ANYONE but themselves, then you don't know much about that group. I think the hacking of anyone's email is pretty heinous and so do many people no matter who they are voting for in November.
Linguistics
What we have seen in this campaign, is a dangerous reluctance to "call it like it is" in regard to the coordinated Lee Atwater hit squads deployed by republican operatives.
Using "misleading" when what we need is LYING, is not helpful.
If you catch them lying, say so. It is an important word, with a rich history, particularly with republicans. If they deserve it, say it.
thanks for listening!
dan
This law is long past due!
Thank you Michelle and Barack Obama, for your strong and consistent stands in favor of the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act! We needed this law 20 years ago, so Ms. Ledbetter and women like her could've been helped. Which is why it was so brave of her to take her fight all the way to the Supreme Court now.
As things stand today, a sneaky company could just wait out the statute of limitations (181 days, or one day over the current statute of limitations) and be lawsuit-free for paying their female employees less than their male employees for the same work done. That cannot be allowed to stand.
It'll be interesting to see what the Senate vote on this looks like when it comes up for review later this month. We know this spring, Obama left the campaign trail to return to DC to vote in favor of the Fair Pay Act. We also know McCain stayed on vacation far from DC on the day of the vote. That's when he made his totally pointless "education and training" remark.
Maybe all the Republican senators who are suddenly so "sensitive" to sexism and voted no in April can trouble themselves to vote in favor of this law now that it's September? We'll see.
Voting talks, b.s. walks.
Here's a roll call vote of senators who voted no in April, 2008.
Find your senator and make some noise!
Cynematic
This is a must-win election for this & so
many other reasons!
Thanks for writing about this issue. I've followed this case, and McCain's comment about women getting more training shows that this is another issue he just doesn't "get!"
Obviously, the economy, along with healthcare are straining working families to the breaking point.
I know the uninsured are often mentioned, but for many of us, who have insurance through our employers, our portion of the cost is rising rapidly, and copays, deductibles, and prescriptions costs are skyrocking beyond our ability to afford them. Our family has "maintenance medications" that are costing $1,000 a month WITH insurance, in addition to all the other medical costs not covered.
I know this is off-topic, but I think equal pay, a working economy, the rising cost of "everything", health care, fairer taxes, etc. are all things we must keep in mind as we vote this fall.
I know Senator Obama understands these issues and will work to help middle and lower-income families. I truly do not believe Senator McCain understands these issues and what it takes to solve the problems we're facing.
Ledbetter Case is a Complete Injustice
The complete injustice of the Lilly Ledbetter case should be an embarrassment to all Americans. When it comes to "family values," it takes more than just words. It takes action. Thank you for taking the time to bring these issues front and center.
Also, those of us living with multiple sclerosis appreciate your support. Your personal relationship with MS, and what you have shared publicly, helps to educate the general public about this disease.
Ann Pietrangelo
My Website: AnnPietrangelo.com
Why is He More Qualified?
Being from Va and living in ATL now, this race is so critical that i'm flying to Va to vote. VA is in trouble and it desperately needs young ppl to come out. WOMEN have to vote!
i'm thrilled to know this initiative is in place and in the forefront of serious conversation. I work for myself now and am very conscious to not underpay myself when taking a clients project. When I did work full time, for "the man", I would be sick at the thought of a man making more than me, especially one who wasn't trilingual or a grad of a top school. And why, b/c he's a man? Give me a break. I'm far more qualified than some men out there. It's true for millions of women.
I just may drive up to NC to join the meeting.
Best to all!
Bren
FlaNboyant Eats
Bren Herrera
Only one candidate supports equal pay for
women. Period.
And this woman will take an Obama presidency any day of the week. Hopefully starting on a Tuesday. In November.
Thanks for the post Michelle. I'm glad to hear that this story is starting to get the attention it deserves.
Mom-101
Cool Mom Picks.com
Welcome to Virginia!
Thank you and your husband for your good work. His stance on the issues, such as equal pay and opportunity, and his focus on the issues are important to me. But, I back the sentiment to tough and not let nasty distractions win out over logic and compassion. All the best.
Laura, www.RebelliousThoughtsofaWoman.com
Thank you!
Michelle,
The idea of you in the white house makes me SO happy. Thanks for the work you are doing. It's inspiring to see issues like the gender wage gap being adressed directly.
peace,
-LaSara, www.lasarafirefox.com