LETTER: Reject notion GOP, Ryan support women

To the Telegram:

In a recent letter to the editor: “Fact-finding rises above political noise,” the letter writer took issue with a friend’s statement that she didn’t like Paul Ryan “because he supported legislation that would have men earn more money than women.”

To contradict her friend, the letter writer cited the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act 2009 as proof Paul Ryan doesn’t support men earning more than women. Since this is one of those “issues of importance,” I decided to do “a little fact-checking” of my own.

The Ledbetter Act is an interesting piece of legislation to highlight Ryan’s supposed support for equal pay for women. The purpose of the Ledbetter Act was to right the wrong women have suffered in the workplace when they have been paid less for doing the same work as men. Lilly Ledbetter worked for Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co., in Alabama as the lone female supervisor for 19 years. As she neared her retirement, Ledbetter received an anonymous note informing her that she was being paid less than her male co-workers — a practice that apparently had been going on for her entire tenure. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on a 5-4 majority that Ledbetter had no claim for damages because she had failed to file a complaint within 180 days of her first discriminatory paycheck.

The Ledbetter Fair Pay Act 2009 rights this wrong and extends the 180-day statute of limitations to each paycheck that is discriminatory in pay. Republicans, including Rep. Ryan, voted overwhelmingly against the Ledbetter bill because, according to the letter writer, “it was written in language that was too broad and would potentially open up the door to frivolous law suits.” It is clear the Republicans, including Paul Ryan, care more about protecting large corporations than they care about protecting American working women from blatant discrimination based on gender.

I doubt most working women — or men, for that matter — believe it’s a frivolous thing to be paid thousands of dollars less for doing the same work simply because you’re a woman.

I agree with the letter writer that Americans should take the time to do a little research before voting in this election. There’s a reason President Obama has a wide lead over Mr. Romney with likely female voters. I’d suggest those women are doing their research and have rejected the “political noise.”

Susan Flemmen,

Lake Nebagamon

Tags: opinion, letters