Equal Pay Act

In regard to the post below urging you to write your Senator to vote yes on the restoration of the Equal Pay Act which the Supreme court destroyed, Men for Hillary has gathered many links explaining the history of Fair Pay and the struggle feminists had and are having to achieve it.

This would be an especially good tutorial for those "inter sectional" feminist whose claim to fame is labeling second wave feminism a white middle class privileged women's movement. The truth is we always worked to lift women out of the economic discrimination we still face today.

I had participated in feminist actions starting in 1969 with a campaign to desexigrate the Milwaukee Journal’s want ads. At that time the classifieds were divided by gender ( Help wanted-male, Help wanted-female).

We marched around the Journal every day during our lunch hour. You don't get much media coverage when you are picketing the city's major newspaper. After a few years of being ignored we exploded with frustration and about 30 of us spontaneously swarmed into the Journal lobby. The security guards were stunned and stood immobile as we pushed past them. As luck would have it, the editor was just stepping out of the locked elevator on his way to lunch. Jan Petrus recognized him. She led us in this action and had met with him. Ms Petrus pointed at him and told us who he was and we surged toward him. We mobbed him, still carrying our picket signs, all of us talking to him at the same time. I thought he was going to faint and he did, in fact, have a heart attack shortly thereafter. Six months later the Milwaukee Journal eliminated gender distinctions in the classifieds and the Sentinel followed soon afterward. This did not mean women obtained jobs that traditionally went to males, but it was a start.

We also sat in at the Heinemann's Lunch counter on the Milwaukee riverfront. Women were not allowed to eat there at lunch time because "the sound of women talking irritated the businessmen". Who had to eat quickly and get back to work, the secretary or her boss? The women were not chatting during their 20 minute lunch period. So we sat at the counter preventing the men from ordering lunch. They did not serve us but they never called the police. Eventually, Heinemann changed the policy and served women at the lunch counter during the noon rush.

I was reminded of this action as the media continually criticized Hillary Clinton's laugh as irritating. Some things never change it seems.

As time went on and we were educated by the National NOW office, our actions became more sophisticated. We filed against AT&T, and against the trade unions to gain apprenticeships for women. I moved into NOW leadership.

As the NOW State Action Coordinator, the last major state wide action I organized was a class action employment discrimination complaint against Sears. Sears kept the women in the low commission departments while the men sold the high commission appliances and advanced to supervisory positions. The genders were segregated just as in the supermarkets today. It was obvious. We investigated, documented, marched and filed in every state. They settled.

Many women seem to be under the impression that the Equal Rights Amendment passed. It did not, as it received the same treatment Hillary is receiving now, by the same people. MFH has a sweet link to the ERA which is also instructional.