American equal pay icon Lilly Ledbetter dies aged 86
Lilly Ledbetter, whose name is synonymous with a landmark equal pay law in the US, has passed away at the age of 86.
CBS, the BBC’s US news partner, reported that her children said she died peacefully on Saturday, surrounded by family and loved ones.
“Our mother lived an extraordinary life,” her family said in a statement.
Ledbetter’s activism paved the way for the first bill signed into law by Barack Obama in 2009, after he became president.
The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act made it easier for employees to file lawsuits after discovering they had been paid unfairly due to discrimination.
Obama noted that the law conveyed the message “that there are no second-class citizens in our workplaces.”
President Biden, who served as vice president during the Obama administration, called Ledbetter a “fearless leader and advocate for equal pay.”
He honored her, saying, “Her fight began on the factory floor, reached the Supreme Court and Congress, and she never stopped fighting for all Americans to receive fair pay.”
“Before she became a household name, Lilly was like many other women in the workforce—working hard with dignity, only to learn she was being paid less than a man for doing the same job.”
Biden added it was “an honour to stand with Lilly as the bill that bears her name was made law”, describing the Fair Pay Restoration Act as a “critical step forward in the fight to close the gender and racial wage gaps”.
Ms Ledbetter worked as a supervisor for Goodyear, the tyre manufacturer, in Alabama for nearly 20 years before discovering she was being paid less than men doing the same job.
The Supreme Court ruled in 2007 that she had no grounds to sue because her complaint had not been lodged within six months of the discrimination first taking place. Her law overturned that ruling.
The former president paid tribute on Twitter/X, saying Ms Ledbetter “never set out to be a trailblazer or a household name. She just wanted to be paid the same as a man for her hard work”.
“Lilly did what so many Americans before her have done: setting her sights high for herself and even higher for her children and grandchildren,” Mr Obama said.
Ms Ledbetter continued her advocacy after the law was signed.
She received the Future Is Female Lifetime Achievement Award from Advertising Week last week, according to the Alabama news site AL.com.
A new film about her life, called Lilly and starring Patricia Clarkson, has recently been shown at the Hamptons International Film Festival.
