American icon Lilly Ledbetter, the activist who championed equal pay legislation in the US, has died at the age of 86. Her children reported that she passed away peacefully on Saturday, surrounded by family and loved ones, according to BBC.
“Our mother lived an extraordinary life,” the family said. Ledbetter’s activism led to the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act, the first bill signed into law by President Barack Obama in 2009.This legislation made it easier for workers to sue for pay discrimination, sending a strong message that “there are no second-class citizens in our workplaces,” according to Obama.
For nearly two decades, Ledbetter worked as a supervisor at Goodyear in Alabama before discovering that her male counterparts were earning more for the same role. The Supreme Court ruled in 2007 that she could not sue, as her complaint was not filed within six months of the discrimination. Her law ultimately overturned that ruling.
In a heartfelt tribute on X, Obama remarked that 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.” Just last week, Ledbetter received the Future Is Female Lifetime Achievement Award from Advertising Week, and a film about her life, titled ‘Lilly’, starring Patricia Clarkson, premiered at the Hamptons International Film Festival.
