Women's Paychecks Will Soon Be Less Shafted Than Before

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Hard to believe but totally true: In the workplace, a Woman Dollar = 78 cents, and a Man Dollar = 100 cents. The good news is that big things have been going on to try to correct that imbalance. Or, rather, to help underpaid women take their employers to court to correct that imbalance.Today, Senate is expected to pass the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and the Paycheck Fairness Act, both of which Obama is also expected to support-a signal that the new administration intends to swifty right some of the wrongs inflicted under Bush.Setting things right in the eyes of the law is a crucial next step for fair pay-no doubt about it. But we still have a ways to go. Even with these laws passed, to get those extra 22 cents on the buck, a woman must still somehow ferret out confidential information about who makes more than her at work. She then must collect that information and file a discrimination complaint. Eventually, she may even have to take the matter to court. So while it's a step in the right direction, it's no silver bullet.Maybe the Brits have the right idea on this one. Facing similarly embarrassing pay-gap statistics, they're now considering one of the oldest tricks in the book: public shaming.Image via www.iwpr.org/pdf/R334_BWStateEconomies2006.pdf