Equal-pay Advocate Lilly Ledbetter Inspire Awards 2010 Honoree - AARP The Mag... Advocacy

Lilly Ledbetter Equal-pay Advocate

Lilly Ledbetter grew up in a world where doing chores meant long hours picking cotton—not always willingly—on her grandfather's farm. "I fussed up and down every single row," she recalls now. "But I learned about doing a day's work for fair pay." She never forgot that lesson. For 19 years Ledbetter worked as a night-shift supervisor for Goodyear Tire & Rubber in Gadsden, Alabama, earning performance awards and the respect of union crews—but also earning considerably less money than male supervisors. So Ledbetter embarked on an eight-year quest for equal compensation, suing Goodyear for pay discrimination. A jury agreed that the tire giant had violated the Civil Rights Act of 1964, yet a bitterly divided Supreme Court tossed out the decision in 2007. That ruling inspired Congress to step in with the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009. "The young people getting out of school think discrimination is a thing of the past," says the indefatigable 71-year-old activist. "But when they hear my story, they know. We've got a long way to go."
Cancel You are leaving AARP.org and going to the website of our trusted provider. The provider’s terms, conditions and policies apply. Please return to AARP.org to learn more about other benefits. Your email address is now confirmed. You'll start receiving the latest news, benefits, events, and programs related to AARP's mission to empower people to choose how they live as they age. You can also by updating your account at anytime. You will be asked to register or log in. Cancel Offer Details Disclosures

Close In the next 24 hours, you will receive an email to confirm your subscription to receive emails related to AARP volunteering. Once you confirm that subscription, you will regularly receive communications related to AARP volunteering. In the meantime, please feel free to search for ways to make a difference in your community at Javascript must be enabled to use this site. Please enable Javascript in your browser and try again.