Protestors demanded equal pay for women at an event at the Capitol on Tuesday, which commemorated “Equal Pay Day” across the country. 

Hosted by Rep. Kelda Helen Roys, D-Madison, the event drew nearly 100 people to hear several speakers address the issue of a woman’s right to demand equal pay for doing the same job as a man.  

Attorney Linda Roberson, University of Wisconsin graduate student Laura Fahey and Wisconsin Alliance for Women’s Health Executive Director Sara Finger spoke at the event with Roys.  

Discussing Sen. Glenn Grothman, R-West Bend, and his statement that women are paid less because “money is more important for men,” Roys said she was appalled such “retrograde” comments are still being made in 2012.  

Roys added Gov. Scott Walker repealed the equal pay law secretly without inviting the media, the public or other legislators.  

“I believe that women and girls should be able to participate equally and fully on the social, political and economic levels in our society,” Roys said.

Rep. Michelle Litjens, R-Oshkosh, did not attend the event but said the recently reformed law that passed in 2009 had nothing to do with equal pay for women in the state of Wisconsin.

She added that women still have guaranteed equal pay at the federal and at the state level. 

“It is in state statute that women cannot be discriminated against for employment purposes,” Litjens said. “It is illegal to pay a woman less for doing the same as a man. The state protects workers from being discriminated against, and that has not changed.”  

Litjens said the Department of Workforce Development allows women, minorities or anyone else to file a claim at no cost to themselves if they feel that they are being discriminated against. The department will then investigate that claim, and that person could potentially have their job reinstated and receive two years’ worth of pay, according to the DWD’s current regulations. 

Roberson talked about how women have been working from the beginning of January all the way until April 17 for free just to earn what men earned in 2011. 

Roberson also said only when the Equal Pay Enforcement Act was passed in 2009 did the gender gap increase from 75 to 77.8 cents per dollar that a man earns. Roberson said that now by making it harder for a woman to take her case to court, Walker has made it that much more difficult for a woman to enforce her right to receive equal pay for performing the same job as a man. 

“A right without a real remedy isn’t a real right,” Roberson said. “Women earn less than men because employers can get away with paying us less, regardless of the law that’s in the books that is not being enforced. Young women today should not be putting up with this crap. I
truly believe that a woman who votes for the Republican Party at a time like this
is like a deer joining the NRA.”

Edit: The original version of this story had a picture of Rep. Chris Taylor, D-Madison, from an event other than the one this story was about. The photo has been removed. We regret the error.