John Kerry: “Lilly Ledbetter was the only female manager working alongside 15 men at a Goodyear tire plant in Gadsden, AL. One day…”

“Lilly Ledbetter was the only female manager working alongside 15 men at a Goodyear tire plant in Gadsden, AL. One day, she learned that, for no good reason, she had been receiving hundreds of dollars less per month than her male colleagues--even those with far less seniority. Unfortunately, the wrongs done to Lilly Ledbetter are familiar to far too many women who work every bit as hard as men do but take home a smaller paycheck. We must continue to fight to guarantee equal pay for women everywhere and justice for those women who are discriminated against. It is disgraceful that women still make just 77 cents for every dollar earned by men. In fact, yesterday marked Equal Pay Day--the symbolic day on which a woman's average pay catches up to a man's average earnings from the previous year. Think of all the hours of work done since January 1--those are hours that women have worked just to bring home the same amount of money as a man. It is equivalent to months of working with no pay--something I am sure the bosses doling out unequal paychecks wouldn't stand. Unequal pay for women is an injustice whose poison works on multiple levels. Women aren't just paid less for doing the same work--they are also given a none-too-subtle message that their thoughts and efforts are less valued just because of their gender.”