Bismarck Tribune - North Dakota News - N.D. women deserve equal pay

N.D. women deserve equal pay

Aug 18, 2008 - 07:05:07 CDT

By RENEE STROMME/Bismarck

An editorial published earlier this week (“Women Deserve Equal Pay,” Aug. 12) rightfully acknowledges the importance of equal pay for women in the workplace. The passage of the Paycheck Fairness Act by the U.S. House of Representatives takes an important step in the right direction for women and the families they support. The Paycheck Fairness Act would address pay discrimination by strengthening the Equal Pay Act. However, the author failed to mention another significant piece of pay discrimination legislation that is pending in Congress.

Last year, in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber, the Court ruled that a woman who had been subject to gender-based pay discrimination for almost 20 years wasn’t entitled to take action against her employer.

That ruling — and the Senate’s failure to pass the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act to overturn it — hasn’t exactly helped the working women of North Dakota. Women here working full-time year round in 2006 earned only 70 percent of what their similarly situated male counterparts made — seven percentage points below the national average of 77 percent. Even though we’re applauding the passage of the Paycheck Fairness Act in the House, we can’t forget this injustice.

The women of North Dakota deserve equal pay.

(Renee Stromme is the executive director of the North Dakota Women’s Network.)

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Comments

MyPostsAreAlwaysHushed wrote on Aug 18, 2008 7:43 PM:

" My bosses are women too. Both make more than I do although I do more in regard to quantity and quality. "

REX wrote on Aug 18, 2008 6:09 PM:

" I'm all for women getting equal EVERYTHING. Let's start by requiring them to register for Selective Service, shall we? "

haze wrote on Aug 18, 2008 5:51 PM:

" To: Example to haze - well I guess it's all in what you want out of your job. Maybe you should be trying a bit harder? But it sounds like perhaps you are happy right where you are. Which is fine but not for me. "

example to haze wrote on Aug 18, 2008 3:21 PM:

" I actually do work at a bank, and the best part is, I am more educated than most, but not as much experience, but you don't hear me sreaming that I am being discriminated against. "

to haze wrote on Aug 18, 2008 2:56 PM:

" The next questions would then have to be; What is the turn-over of the TOP positions at your bank, How long have the people in those current TOP positions been employed at or with your bank before they were promoted to them. Were their any women possessing employed with the bank with the same qualifications at the time those positions were filled. "

haze wrote on Aug 18, 2008 2:28 PM:

" To example please - obviously you've never worked at a bank. The MEN are at the top and the women work for them. There may be a few exceptions to this but not many. "

example please wrote on Aug 18, 2008 8:22 AM:

" Please give me an example of this. Where I work my boss is a woman and her boss is a woman, both obviously making more than me. I have a couple of co-workers that are equal to me and they make more than me. Please give true examples as I have never heard this before. This is no different than the last letter where they complained about there only being one minority appointed in the state. get educated and work hard and get over it. "

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