Movies

Lilly Ledbetter’s Shocking True Story: The Woman Who Took on Goodyear and Changed U.S. Law

BBG News

Approximately seven months following Lilly Ledbetter’s passing, a movie based on her life story will premiere in cinemas starting May 9th. This act inspired by her life is known as the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, passed by Congress.

In the biographical movie titled “Lilly“, Patricia Clarkson portrays Ledbetter, a Goodyear employee who discovered she was being underpaid compared to her male supervisors. The film chronicles her legal struggle, eventually reaching the U.S. Supreme Court. The movie concludes with the historic passing of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act in Congress in 2009.

Here’s what to know about the real woman who inspired Lilly. 

What Lilly Ledbetter endured

Growing up in poverty gave Ledbetter the resilience necessary to endure a lengthy legal fight.

She was born in 1938 in Alabama, when there were few career options for women.

Lanier Scott Isom, who assisted Ledbetter in writing her 2012 memoir “Grace and Grit: My Struggle for Equal Pay and Justice Beyond Goodyear,” notes that she lived without the luxury of running water or electricity during her childhood, holding only a high school education. Additionally, her attire was sewn from feed sack fabric.

She had no qualms about doing hard work, as demonstrated by her stint at a poultry processing facility where she helped support her family financially.

1979 marked the year when, already a married woman with two kids, she secured a position as a supervisor at the Goodyear plant in Gadsden, Alabama.

Her husband was always supportive of job, but she encountered many men who felt threatened by her. 

Ledbetter had always been outspoken about the sexual harassment she experienced on the job. 

According to Isom’s explanation, one of her supervisors suggested something like, “If you join me for a trip to the hotel nearby, I can guarantee your promotion.

In a different phrasing, Lilly’s writer and director Rachel Feldman notes: “There was an individual who kept discussing Lilly’s undergarments and her type of bra, and another person remarked, ‘I find women uncomfortable here. What if I need to itch my chest and pass gas?’

In various settings outside of work, Ledbetter also came across disrespectful men. For instance, when her son had recurring ear infections and required surgery as a child, a doctor recommended that she generate the necessary funds by participating in a training program for young surgeons who were learning to perform hysterectomies.

After spending 19 years in her role at Goodyear, she discovered that a newly-trained colleague was earning more than her. An unidentified coworker secretly slipped her a note detailing the salaries of her male peers, revealing a difference of up to $2,000 per month.

Lilly Ledbetter’s fight for equal pay

In the movie, a young attorney named Jon Goldfarb, portrayed by Thomas Sadoski, stepped into Lilly Ledbetter’s legal dispute. A significant portion of the film, titled Lilly, presents a fictionalized account of her courtroom struggle. She initially won compensation from a federal court, but unfortunately, Goodyear managed to overturn this decision through an appeal. In 2007, her case was ultimately dismissed by the U.S. Supreme Court, which asserted that all claims must be submitted within 180 days of any discriminatory action.

In her dissenting opinion, Ruth Bader Ginsburg highlighted to Lois Ledbetter that she had the opportunity to continue her battle in Congress. Various interviews and speeches from Ginsburg on the subject of Ledbetter are incorporated within the movie Lilly.

In addition to the challenge of advocating for equal pay legislation, Ledbetter faced this struggle while her husband was battling cancer. Remarkably, his jaw needed to be removed during this period. Yet, he remained fully supportive and didn’t object to her frequent visits to Washington D.C. to push for the bill’s passage.

On January 29, 2009, nine days into his first term, President Barack Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, marking it as the first significant law he enacted during his presidency. To add to her joy, Ledbetter had the opportunity to dance with Obama on Inauguration Day, a long-cherished dream of hers since she was fond of ballroom dancing in her youth.

Claims of pay discrimination must be filed within 180 days after an employee receives their last affected paycheck, rather than 180 days following the receipt of the first discriminatory payment. As the New York Times explains, Ms. Ledbetter was not eligible for back pay from Goodyear because the discriminatory payments she received took place prior to the law’s enactment.

Lilly Ledbetter’s legacy

On October 12, 2024, at the age of 86, Lilly took her final bow. Much like Ledbetter, a film enthusiast par excellence, she spent her childhood immersed in cinemas featuring Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire. As Feldman puts it, “She recognized the profound impact movies can have – when you touch people’s hearts, you influence their minds.

As a die-hard cinema enthusiast, I found myself leaning on Ledbetter’s wisdom throughout my scriptwriting journey. There were numerous instances where I’d reach out to Lilly and share, “I’ve crafted an exceptional character here, but it’s only Ledbetter who could conjure up the perfect line, any thoughts?”

In the heat of crafting a dialogue for our fictional Ledbetter upon her arrival at a press briefing, the genuine Ledbetter offered her insight. She suggested that my character should express that she visualizes winning the lottery as a way to quell her pre-dance competition jitters.

Marc Benioff, the head of TIME and the film’s producer, reminisced in a tribute about his initial encounter with Ledbetter, sharing how she sparked his determination to address and rectify pay disparities within his company Salesforce. By 2022, Salesforce had invested around $22 million to uphold pay equity, as Benioff emphasized that it’s not merely about resolving the issue once, but rather, instilling equality as a fundamental value by actively operationalizing it throughout their organization.

Feldman tells TIME that she hopes moviegoers see “the importance of male allies.”

Although the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act was a significant step forward, it didn’t fully eliminate the gender pay gap. As reported by the Pew Research Center, women in the year 2024 typically made about 85 cents for every dollar men earned on average.

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2025-05-09 16:06

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