Until women are respected and our contributions valued, no amount of legislation is going to make much of a difference.

The sexism we witnessed in the last election and the fact that, even so called feminists were supportive of it demonstrate just how far we are from having equality for women in this country.

ACPD: this is so true…. I am sorry but not surprised to hear you’ve been discriminated against re. salary. I agree with what you say that’s an incredibly tough situation to be in and fight in court.
I have suffered other (subtle and not so subtle) forms of discrimination than salary although there is a some of that as well but not clear cut (in my case).

We will have to see what happens with the Law. As a message it is a very important step I think; it sends a message and we will have to wait to see if at least it acts as a “deterrent”. At least that’s my “hope”..

But, yes, the deeper issue you mention remains and as a society there a lot of work still to be done to overcome sexism and gender discrimination is all its colors and forms.

I know, because I have been in this position. It takes a lot of time, money and support to sue for discrimination. And while there is some history of success in the field of racial discrimination, there has been little or none in the area of gender discrimination–especially recently. Even lawyers don’t put a lot of effort into trying to win these cases, because they rarely succeed and the few that do, result in very small judgments. Juries don’t care.

So, while I’m glad a few more loopholes have been closed in the books, don’t get excited. Until women are respected and our contributions valued, no amount of legislation is going to make much of a difference.

The sexism we witnessed in the last election and the fact that, even so called feminists were supportive of it demonstrate just how far we are from having equality for women in this country. This legislation is more hocus pocus–unfortunately.

Will have to catch a re-run of your show.