The Paycheck Fairness Act may come up for a vote in the U.S.
Senate today. This is a critical piece of legislation that
addresses several shortfalls in current laws against unequal pay
for women. We know from personal experience that these
shoftfalls need to be addressed before we can hope to achieve
the decades-old goal of equal pay. Terrel McSweeny writes at
whitehouse.gov: Wage discrimination is real. Just ask Lilly
Ledbetter. She is a mother. She didn’t seek a “less stressful
work environment” than her male counter parts. And she was paid
roughly 30% less. If she had been allowed to share information
about her pay with her colleagues she would have realized she
was being paid less than men with less experience. But Lilly
couldn’t bring that case. She could have lost her job if she
discussed her pay with her colleagues. The Paycheck Fairness Act
would provide that protection. The author [of a Wall Street
Journal op-ed] is right there are a lot of laws aimed at this
problem – but because they don’t provide