Chuck Schumer: “today we get a second chance to do the right thing. Millions of American women and men understand that it is wrong for a…”

“today we get a second chance to do the right thing. Millions of American women and men understand that it is wrong for a woman to work, year after year, alongside a man and make less money simply because she is a woman. Millions of American women understand--unfortunately many know first hand--that you don't always know when you are being discriminated against. Proof that you have been a victim of discrimination rarely boils down to one magic moment where the curtain is raised and it is all made clear. And of course, the curtain hardly ever comes up within 180 days of the actual ``act'' of discrimination. All too often, discrimination based on gender happens exactly the way it happened to Lilly Ledbetter. Paycheck after paycheck, a woman receives lower pay than her male colleagues. But only after years does she discover that this was even happening. Only after years does she discover that it has been the result of discrimination. It is just as demeaning, and in many ways even more frustrating, than a single, concrete episode of bias. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who took the unusual step of reading her dissent in Lilly Ledbetter's case from the bench, was outraged by her compatriots on the Supreme Court who held the passage of time against Lilly Ledbetter. You see, Justice Ginsburg understands what so many Americans also understand--that it is often a series of small and hidden decisions that add up to a lifetime of unequal pay.”