It's just not healthy nor equitable nor right that corporations continue to be led predominantly by white men. And one more time, after another outrageously incorrect and another anti-woman ruling by the Supreme Court, I am reminded that the makeup of the Supreme Court of the United States is a joke and a catastrophe. For all woman who worked so hard for so many years to gain equality, the future looks grim as one by one our slender gains are being taken away. The case this week involved a woman who was the only woman out of 17 managers at a certain level at her employer Goodyear Tire and Rubber. She was hired at the same level as the men but for 20 years she was given smaller raises until she discovered that she was being paid 40% less than the men. She filed a complaint and the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission agreed with her. She was awarded more than $3M by a jury but the judge reduced the award to $360K. The Court of Appeals erased the verdict stating that the law requires that she should have taken action within 180 days of the original discriminatory action. The EEOC argued that each paycheck was a discriminatory action and therefore her rights were preserved. But the Supreme Court's verdict written by the new right majority disagreed. The only woman, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, in her dissent reflected that "The majority ignored well-known realities of the workplace, including the "common characteristics of pay discrimination." After all, people don't often talk about how much they make or how big a pay raise they earned. And, further, if you are a woman you learn not to make waves if you want to keep your job. Ask me, I know, as do many other woman.

So now let's hope one of the national woman politicians, or the men who are supportive of women's issues, passes a law that doesn't allow corporations to blatantly discriminate against woman and not worry about it as long as they keep things quiet for 180 days. How does this blatant discrimination make this country a better place, a shining beacon, a grand example of democracy. If you think it does, you are fooling yourselves.

This is a complete outrage. Woman, if you want things to get better for yourselves, your daughters, your granddaughters, you must elect people into office that welcome the inclusion of women into the national debate and national governance, at equal rates. It's the only way things are going to change for the better.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive