It’s an ‘American right to be paid equally for equal work’: Lilly Ledbetter on gender wage gaps

Lilly Ledbetter, an Equal Pay for Equal Work Activist, joins Yahoo Finance’s Kristin Myers and Sibile Marcellus to discuss women in the workforce, the barriers that prevent women from achieving wage parity, and possible solutions to start broaching gender disparities.

Video Transcript

SIBILE MARCELLUS: Welcome back to A Time for Change. shattering glass ceilings, fighting for equal pay, working for fair representation, we've been fighting these battles for decades. And we're still fighting. Kristin?

KRISTIN MYERS: So let's talk about a true trailblazer, Sibile, in the fight for equal pay. Lilly Ledbetter was about to retire from the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company back in the late 1990s when someone slipped her an anonymous note, telling her she was making far less than two male colleagues. Now, she filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and sued Goodyear in a case that went all the way to the Supreme Court and eventually inspired the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay act of 2009.

Now, it was the first bill that President Barack Obama signed into law. The law strengthens workers' rights by doing away with a strict time limit on when wage discrimination lawsuits can be filed. Instead of having just 180 days from the first unfair paycheck, the law allows for workers to sue for every unfair paycheck issued.

We have Lilly Ledbetter here with us now. Now, Lilly, you never received the full pay that you were owed for all of those years from Goodyear. How does the wage gap harm women throughout their lives well into retirement?

LILLY LEDBETTER: Well, that's the problem. And that's what so many young women do not understand that's out there working today, that if you do not get equal pay or your rightful pay, it's gone forever because it affects your retirement, your 401Ks, your contributory retirements, and Social Security or any other program you might be involved in. And it goes on for the rest of your life.

And a lot of these programs are not adjusted due to cost of living. And so once it goes into effect, you're locked down for the rest of your life. And what I've learned since I've been out, that most of us women, we outlive our spouses on average by 10 years. We lose their income or it decreases. Either way, it's a loss. It's a terrible loss.

And it's extremely difficult for so many women across this nation to stay independent. But what really hurts is when you've lost those wages all those years-- for 19 years, I was underpaid. And that affected my overtime, which was time and half, double, and sometimes triple. I've worked a lot of overtime. And it really put a decrease and doubt. And that affected my retirements today.

And it's really a second class citizenship for women like myself on for the rest of their life. And I never got a dime when my case went to the Supreme Court. And the Supreme Court, five justices changed the law, basically ruled against me. And it was gone. It's all gone forever.

There's no other option I have in order to get back any of those lost wages or lost retirements. They're gone forever. I have to do without them and try to make ends meet for the rest of my life. And this is not right in this country. This is an American right to be paid equally for equal work.

SIBILE MARCELLUS: Lilly, I absolutely agree. It's absolutely an American right for women to be paid the same amount as men for the same amount of work, same quality of work. But many women may feel reluctant to follow in your footsteps and publicly fight for equal pay because they fear it might end their career. So if you had been earlier on in your career or middle career, would you have still filed a complaint, or would it have been too much of a risk?

LILLY LEDBETTER: I would have. But you're exactly right. And that's one of the reasons there have never, never been many cases like mine or anyone like myself that would pursue it all the way. And I did warn my family up front. I said, if I start, we may be in this for eight years because these are not quick solutions.

The corporations have more money than you do. They can spend your out. They'll wait you out. And they'll wear you out, hoping you'll go away. But I never would. Once I went in, I was determined I would see it through, regardless of the outcome because that was another American right by law.

But my case, I filed a charge and then got an attorney after the Equal Employment investigated. And it took nine years from the time I filed the charge until I got my final verdict. And then Justice Ginsburg challenged Congress to change that law back. She said, these people do not understand what it's like in the real world. People don't stand around water coolers discussing their pay.

And two, I worked for a corporation that told me when I went to work, if I discussed my pay, I would not have a job. So no one ever discussed their pay. And I never knew how I rated with my peers or my co-workers and had no idea about raises.

And that's another problem. Young people don't realize today, when they get a job, they must get their equal pay up front because even if it's a starting pay, it must be right because wages are generally percentages of what you're making. So you need to start out with as much as you can get under the law.

KRISTIN MYERS: So Lilly, women also face what they're calling the motherhood tax because they're burdened with caregiving. So they're unable to, oftentimes, stay as long at work, for example, or go to events that men go to, really, in order to get ahead. So how do we help women really stay competitive with their male co-workers in the office?

LILLY LEDBETTER: You're exactly right. And a lot of these corporations will have programs. The men can do it. They can go. They can go to children's programs or they can participate in family things. They do not get penalized.

You're exactly right. There is still a double standard today. What works for the man does not work for women. And this is not right because this is a hardship. And the women should not be penalized.

But I can share one personal experience. When I signed up for Social Security, I had stayed home. I had had a job in the early high school days. I worked a little, 18 months, I think. And then I didn't work again for 10 years until my children got in school. And when I signed up for Social Security, the person said, oh, we calculated a little bit. And they cut my income to about $500 a month because I had stayed home for 10 years.

Now, if they had just taken my last years of earnings, my last 35 years of working, I would have had $500 more a month. That's not right either.

SIBILE MARCELLUS: No, that's definitely not right. And President Obama took it to heart because he obviously is the one who signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act into law. Are you still in touch with President Obama?

LILLY LEDBETTER: I am. He's a good friend of mine. He is. We became friends. And I did with his family. And I made many trips to the White House and went to luncheons. And I walked the campaign trail for both campaigns. So I stayed, traveling the country, talking about why we had to have President Obama elected.

Now, when the Ledbetter Bill was co-sponsored by Republicans and Democrats, it was both parties because everybody understands it. This is not just my and your problem. It's our husbands'. It's our fathers' and our brothers', it's everybody's problem.

And the men understand. And this is wonderful because the president got it. They got it. So I campaigned for him. I spoke at Denver National Convention. I spoke at the second one. But neutrally, I had stayed neutral, not saying, which party I was for.

But Senator McCain said in the early days that he wouldn't vote for it because women needed some more education and training. And I knew that was not the problem. It was the fact that women just do not get paid what they're legally earning under the law. And I knew it was time that I have to get President Obama elected and some people to support him to get this bill passed.

And the Congress in Washington came together, the Democrats and the Republicans, they worked together. And we got that bill passed. And I say we because they would fly me to Washington. And I'd walk the halls of Congress, lobbying for the Ledbetter Bill because it wouldn't help me. I never got a dime. I never would get any. But it was for all of the people out there, still working today.

And it took 18 months to get that bill passed. And then it went to the Senate in January of '09. And then President Obama signed it at the end of the month. And it has made a tremendous difference for a lot of people.

KRISTIN MYERS: So we're still fighting, however, as women--

LILLY LEDBETTER: We are.

KRISTIN MYERS: --for our equal due. So what advice do you have for young women that are out there that are pursuing this fight in their own careers?

LILLY LEDBETTER: Yes. I heard one of your previous speakers refer to having mentors. That's a good way. When you get a job and work somewhere, try to get a mentor, someone who can help you and networking. But today, there's so much information and so much knowledge on the internet and other sources that we can look up. And we can know what the going rate for that job is locally. And we can know and have a good idea of what we should be paid. And if we're not getting that, we need to, on a job, find out exactly what the problem is so we can get our income up.

And if you can't work out and reach an agreement and a decision, sometimes you have to change jobs. That's not a good thing to do. Most people, they're building a retirement. They're building a program and a network. And they like where they're at. So they want to make it work.

I did at Goodyear. I was a good employee. I worked a lot of overtime hours. I was always there. I was always on the floor. And they could find me when they I needed me. And I always went into work. So I worked hard. And it was a challenge because Goodyear had not had many women supervising mostly men in manufacturing jobs.

And this was a difficult thing. But I proved my capability. And the union men and women respected me and supported me. And that's what made me a tremendous success in my job with Goodyear.

SIBILE MARCELLUS: Well, Lilly, you're not just a tremendous success in your job that you had previously but also in making history and having your name on actual legislation to impact all women in this country. Thank you very much for that, Lilly Ledbetter. So great to have you here.

LILLY LEDBETTER: Thank you. It's been an awesome honor to be with you. And any time I can, I'll want to come back because I get up every day, hoping I'll be able to make a difference today in some young woman, in some young families life.

SIBILE MARCELLUS: You are absolutely making a difference. And we can't wait to have you back on the show.

LILLY LEDBETTER: Thank you.

KRISTIN MYERS: We're holding you to that.

LILLY LEDBETTER: Best to you.