Why I Cannot Vote For the GOP (For Lilly Ledbetter) – Flash Friday 55
Lilly Ledbetter – “It’s About Equality” (From The Washington Post)
Why I Cannot Vote For the GOP (For Lilly Ledbetter)
When I was three-months, my mother started teaching in a county where women with children under one year automatically received reduced pay. Meaning that new mothers got even less pay than regular women (much less men).
In her/my first year, my mother mentioned me to no one, pretended I didn’t exist.
I exist.
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The above (without title) happens to be 55 words (and a lot of suffering) so tell it to Galen, the terrific G-Man. Lilly Ledbetter is a woman from Alabama who discovered after two decades of employment as a manager with a tire company that she was being paid less than male employees holding the same job. She brought legal action to recover her lost pay. After a ten year battle, the Supreme Court told her that her claims were time-barred because she should have sued her employee within six months of the initial pay discrimination (although she did not know of it for two decades.) The first bill signed into law by President Obama was the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, which allowed a new statute of limitations to begin with each discriminatory pay check.
I am posting Lilly Ledbetter’s speech at the DNC below. I found it very moving, as a woman, and also knowing my mother’s (and my) story.
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Tags: Flash Friday 55, guess what - women exist, Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, manicddaily, New Mothers having unequal pay in the fifties, pay discrimination for women, story for Lilly Ledbetter
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ManicDDaily 
September 7, 2012 at 9:18 pm
and let me guess it is on the list of repeals should the GOP win…i am sure their corporate backers would much rather have their way…nice k…
September 7, 2012 at 9:20 pm
Ha! I don’t know. I thought she (Lilly Ledbetter) made just a terrific speech at the convention. I should probably put the link up. I will in fact. She has this beautiful Alabaman accent and she is a very cool person. k.
September 7, 2012 at 10:31 pm
She didn’t bite her tongue when she gave that speech and every word rang true. Thanks for telling your story–and how horrible to have to hide your child’s existence to keep your pay from being docked! Yeesh.
September 7, 2012 at 11:37 pm
MD…
Your story was moving and fantastic.
I’ve found that the DNC was filled with passion and compassion. Michelle Obama and Bill Clinton were spellbinding.
Loved your interesting and tardy 55
Thanks for playing, I was starting to worry about you. Have a Kick Ass Week-End
September 7, 2012 at 11:42 pm
Thanks so much, Galen. k.
September 8, 2012 at 1:45 am
yes, you certainly do exist. thank you for posting this speech. She is easy to listen to. The changes we wish to make/see seem so drudgingly slow sometimes… and too often they are thwarted by narrow minds. Here is to a full and valued existence!
September 8, 2012 at 9:33 am
Ha! Thanks. She (Lilly Ledbetter) was terrific. My mom also. k.
September 8, 2012 at 3:34 am
wow, incredibly moving story. In fact, just incredible. Something Dickens might have dreamed up.
September 8, 2012 at 9:32 am
Yes, it seems quite incredible to me too. I don’t know if it was something to encourage new mothers to stay at home or if they just assumed they’d be less reliable. They paid them substitute’s pay which was substantially less than a normal teacher’s salary. Of course, people in our neighborhood knew I existed, but my mother did not mention me to any co-worker or person at the school, and once, when someone ran into us at a restaurant, she was petrified and didn’t identify me as hers. Crazy. Of course, it’s many years ago now, and yet not so many either, when you think about it. k.
September 8, 2012 at 4:24 am
that is so sad, and moving….
September 8, 2012 at 4:27 am
I am surprised that such a thing happened till recently in a country like America where all the Rosies the riveters saved the country’s economy after the second world war!
September 8, 2012 at 6:22 am
It was in the late fifties, so after the Rosies, but a while ago. I don’t know how late it went on.
September 8, 2012 at 9:38 am
K., I just read The Panther by Rilke for the first time. The substance is breathtaking. The sense of Animal comes through profoundly and the symbolism re. our own captivity is alarming. Can’t help but parallel this with Lilly Leadbetter -and many others- demanding freedom from old and mighty injustices. The poem, the speech, your poem, all inspire me to go deeper in my writing.
September 8, 2012 at 9:42 am
Ha! Well, thanks so much. He is an incredible poet! Whenever I read him I feel so bad for not really reading German. I know a few words here and there, but he’s just so lyrical as well as so very profound. At least there are a lot of dual page translations. Thanks so much for your kind words. k.
September 8, 2012 at 12:25 pm
Well done. I remember being so irritated/appalled/outraged at the court’s ruling. And happy when LL Act was signed.
September 8, 2012 at 1:07 pm
Thanks, Karin.
September 10, 2012 at 11:38 am
No idea where I was when that bill was passed (probably at work–ha!). But I well remember my aunt having to leave her job when she became pregnant with her first child. Not maternity leave, mind you, good-bye. And this was the early 60’s. On the upside, no one has ever dared tell my cousin that she doesn’t exist 😉
I am glad that you do, too. Thank you.
September 10, 2012 at 2:34 pm
Thanks. This was in late fifties. k.