Guest Post: Peggy Olson, Don Draper, and Why Congress Must Pass the ‘Paycheck Fairness Act’
Guest blogger Jillian Weinberger weighs in on the Paycheck Fairness Act, endorsed this week by the Obama administration as “a common sense bill”:
The fourth season of Mad Men premieres on Sunday, but this week, as Obama urged the Senate to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act, I found myself reflecting on season three—when Peggy demands a raise from Draper.
It may be 40-plus years since the Equal Pay Act prevented employers from discriminating based on sex, but when it comes to pay parity, we’re hardly any further along from the Mad Men days. Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show that while the pay gap has certainly narrowed since Peggy’s time, the chasm is still wide: in 2009, women earned only 80 percent of men’s weekly wages, and in some jurisdictions, it’s even worse. (In Louisiana, for example, women earn just 65 cents on the male dollar.)
All of this is yet another reason why we need to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act, now up before the Senate—which would close existing loopholes in the 1963 law. As the National Women’s Law Center has put it, the Act would give women “the same remedies for [pay discrimination] that are currently available” for those who suffer based on race or origin. But critics, like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce (and Rep. John Boehner, from my home state of Ohio, I’m embarrassed to admit), have a different view: Boehner (ed: what a name, what a name…) contends the law wouldn’t actually empower women, but “empower trial lawyers whose junk lawsuits will clog up the courts.”
When Peggy demanded her raise, Don Draper lost his patience, denounced her as ungrateful and overly demanding, and ushered her out of the room. By invoking the specter of “junk lawsuits,” critics of the Paycheck Fairness Act hope to do the same to millions of women who deserve equal pay for equal work. Americans have certainly made great strides since Peggy and Don walked the hallowed halls of Sterling Cooper, but sex-based pay discrimination continues to haunt us. Women need legislation like the Paycheck Fairness Act to ensure that they can challenge unfair and illegal practices in the workplace.
Jillian Weinberger is a freelance writer living in Brooklyn.
