SEven several months after the death of Lilly Ledbetter, for whom the Congress Lilly Ledbetter Fair Play Act is, on May 9, a film from her life will open in theaters.
In the biofoo Lilly, Patricia Clarkson celebrates Goodyear employee Ledbetter, who learned that she was paid less than men who were men and followed her legal journey to the US Supreme Court. The film culminates in the congress of Lilly Ledbetter's Fair Wage Act in the historic section of the 2009 year.
Here is what to know about a true woman who inspired Lilly.
What Lilly Ledbetter on the farm
Growing up in poverty gave Ledbet a long legal struggle to endure the durability.
He was born in Alabama in 1938 when there were few career opportunities for women.
“He grew up without running, without electricity, only with high school bosses,” says Lanier Scott Isom, who helped Ledbetter put together his 2012 memoir of 2012 Grace and Grit: My struggle for equal wages and justice in Goodyar and elsewhere. “His clothes were made of feed bag material.”
He was never afraid of his hands dirty. For example, at one point he worked in a chicken processing company to help his family ends.
In 1979, he landed as a workplace in Goodyear Gadsden, Alabama, Plant as a worker for two children.
Her husband always supported the work, but she met many men who knew her.
Ledbetter had always been about sexual harassment he experienced at work.
As Isom explains: “One of his supervisors said in principle [paraphrasing]”If you want to go to the street with me, I would ensure your promotion.” ”
Lilly Writer and Director Rachel Feldman adds: “There was one guy who couldn't stop talking to his underwear and which bra he wore, and one said [paraphrasing]'I don't like women here. What if I have to scratch my balls and wash? ''
The work was not the only place where Ledbetter met with attacking men. When his son suffered from repeated ear infections and needed surgery, the doctor advised him to make money by participating in a program where young surgeons learned to perform hysterectomy.
Nineteen years at work in Goodyear, he learned that he was the young man who had been training more than he was. Anonymous tips left him at work, written by his male colleagues' salaries, so he saw he earned up to $ 2,000 a month less than they were.
Lilly Ledbetter fight for equal wages
A young lawyer named Jon Goldfarb played in Thomas Sadoski in the movie, took the Ledbetter case and a large part Lilly is the dramatization of his legal battle. He won the money from the Federal Court, but lost it when Goodyear complained. In 2007, he lost a lawsuit in the US Supreme Court, which claimed that the claims should be lodged within 180 days of discriminatory action.
But Ruth Bader Ginsburg talked to Ledbetter in his dissenting opinion, pointing out that he still had the opportunity to bring his fight to the congress. True interviews and calls ginsburg have given Ledbetter Lilly.
As if fighting an equal salary would not be difficult enough, Ledbetter had to do it when his wife fought with cancer, even had to remove his jaw in the process. But he fully supported his efforts and had no problems with his DC travels to take into account.
On January 29, 2009, President Barack Obama signed Lilly Ledbetter's Fair Wages Act, only nine days in his first term, the first major legislation he wrote as president. When the cake is freezing, Ledbetter actually started dancing with Obama on the opening day, for him a dream because he grew up in the ballroom dancing.
According to the law, the requirements for discrimination should be made within 180 days after the employee's last salary check, not 180 days after the first discriminatory salary check. As a New York Times remarksLedbetter was never entitled to pay from Goodyear because his discriminatory salaries took place before the law was introduced.
Lilly Ledbetter Heritage
Ledbetter died on October 12, 2024 at the age of 86. Lilly It is a suitable tribute to a movie lover like an Ledbetter, who grew up in films in Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire. “He also understood the power of films – that when you influence people's hearts, you influence their heads,” says Feldman.
Feldman consulted with Ledbetter throughout the script writing process. “It was several times if I called Lilly, and I said,” I wrote a great character here, but only Lilly Ledbetter could come out with the line, what would you say? “” When he tried to come up with a fictional Linebetter when he came to the press and asked how he nerved his nerves before the dance competition he was from the dance competition when he is from a dance trip.
Marc Benioff, the time owner of the film, recalled his first meeting with Ledbetter, writing about how he helped him inspire and repair his company Salesforce. Since 2022, the company had spent $ 22 million to secure wage capital because it wrote: “This is not just about solving the problem. This means that we are acting as the core value of our company.”
Feldman tells the time that he hopes that filmmakers will see “the importance of men's allies”.
Although Lilly Ledbetter's fair wage law is a milestone, it did not stop the gender pay gap. According to Pewi Research CenterIn 2024, women earned an average of 85% of what men earned.
