After a brief introduction from AAUW Public Policy Director Lisa Maatz, Lilly Ledbetter took the stage to a standing ovation. Lisa is no stranger to St. Louis and Missouri AAUW meetings, so many of you may have met her.  She is one fantastic dynamo on The Hill. 

The session ended with a call to action from Lisa, who urged all members to engage in an act of “polite civil disobedience” and flood senators’ e-mail and voice mail until they sign on to this landmark bill.  Senators, beware!

Lilly Ledbetter spoke about growing up in Alabama, working hard, raising a family, and playing by the rules. “I held up my end of the bargain, but my employer, Goodyear, did not,” she said. After 19 years at Goodyear, she found out that she had been underpaid for virtually her entire career. She filed suit with the EEOC, and her case went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.  In January 2009 Ledbetter was vindicated when she stood in the East Room of the White House as President Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. Our work is not over, however, and AAUW is leading the charge on the Paycheck Fairness Act, which has passed in the House but not yet in the Senate. Ledbetter said, “I recently spoke to 130 fourth graders. During my presentation, a little girl raised her hand and asked me, ‘How did you feel when you found out the men were paid more?’ Now, if fourth graders get it, what is going on with the Senate?”