The Monroe County Women’s Commission and the Bloomington Commission on the Status of Women will soon convene to present a panel regarding equal pay for women.
“Pay Equity: Lilly Ledbetter’s Story and You,” will take place at 2 p.m. April 2 at the City Council Chambers. The event will feature Lynn Duggan, associate professor of labor studies at IU, among a variety of panelists, according to a news release.
The panel will focus on the fact that women are still paid 78 cents for every dollar a man is paid for a comparable position, according to the release. Given this statistic, it would take a woman an additional four months to earn the same amount a man could earn in one calendar year.
Lilly Ledbetter’s story begins with her position as overnight supervisor at Alabama Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company for 19 years, according to the release.
Ledbetter filed a sex discrimination case against Goodyear, which made it to the Supreme Court level.
This eventually led to the establishment of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act, the first legislation of its type signed by former President Barack Obama in 2009. It was also the first bill Obama signed into law during his time in office.
Some figures who will present their experiences at the event will be Rep. Linda Lawson, D-Hammond; Quincy Sauer, an attorney at Macey and Swanson; Lynn Duggan, an IU associate professor of labor studies; and Emma Cannon, a senior from Bloomington High School North, along with the Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce.
Duggan teaches and publishes on issues of gender in the workforce, and Sauer concentrates her practice on wage and hour regulations and employee discrimination.
Liz Feitl, AFL-CIO community services liaison for United Way Monroe County, will moderate the discussion. The panel is free and open to the public.
Sanya Ali
