BCVoices Inc.

This landmark legislation ensures that individuals subjected to wage discrimination can seek justice, regardless of when they uncover a pay inequity.

Lilly Ledbetter (April 14, 1938 – October 12, 2024) was one such person. In 1988, after nearly two decades at Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, she discovered that she had been paid significantly less than her male counterparts. Her lawsuit claiming wage discrimination, filed in 1999, reached the U.S. Supreme Court in 2007.

Unfortunately, the Court ruled against Lilly, saying she had missed filing her claim within 180 days of the first instance of pay discrimination, i.e. her first paycheck at Goodyear, as required by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Although the Supreme Court ruling was legally correct under the existing framework, it highlighted a critical flaw in the system. Most workers, like Lily, don’t discover pay discrimination until many years after their first paycheck.

In response to this injustice, the Obama Administration lobbied the US Congress to pass the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. Signed into law on January 29, 2009, the Act resets the 180-day filing period with each discriminatory paycheck, allowing an employee to challenge pay disparity regardless of the date it first occurred.

Despite this law, the fight for pay equity is far from over. Recent data reveals persistent disparities, highlighting the ongoing challenges in achieving fair wages for women and marginalized communities. In 2023, women working full-time earned a median weekly income of $1,005 — only 83.6% of the $1,202 earned by men. The gap is even wider when broken down by race. White women earned a median weekly income of $1,021, about 83.4% of White men’s $1,225, while Black women earned just $889, or 72.6% of White men’s earnings.

The fight for pay equity remains far from over. Women, particularly women of color, continue to earn significantly less than their male counterparts for the same work.

Let January 29th remind us of Lilly Ledbetter’s perseverance and that every paycheck is a testament to the value of an individual’s work — an intrinsic worth that should never be undervalued.

Watch Equal Pay, Episode 1 of our Stand UP, Speak OUT docuseries to learn more about the history of the fight for equal pay, and hear from women who experienced its impact on their lives.

Thanks to your partnership, BC Voices had a remarkable 2024. Our audience expanded, we become increasingly visible across the United States, and our online docuseries Stand UP, Speak OUT: The Personal Politics of Women’s Rights continued to receive awards.

Our films were screened in California, Texas, and New York, and we received multiple awards from film festivals:

Best of Show in Social Issues – Depth of Field International Film Festival
Docuseries Intro & Reproductive Rights – Know Your Rights
Best of Festival – Documentaries Without Borders
Reproductive Rights – Know Your Rights
Best of Show in Documentary – Divine Feminine Film Festival
Reproductive Rights – Abortion
Best Documentary – Tarzana International Film Festival
Reproductive Rights – Know Your Rights
Best in Women’s Empowerment – Austin International Arthouse Festival
Reproductive Rights – Know Your Rights
Best in Women’s Empowerment – San Francisco International Film Awards
Docuseries Intro & Reproductive Rights – Know Your Rights
Best in Social Justice – New York Women in Film & Television
Reproductive Rights – Sterilization, Abortion & Birth Control
Awards of Excellence Special Mention – Accolade Global Film Festival
Docuseries Intro & Reproductive Rights – Know Your Rights
Award of Excellence in Documentary Social Issues – Hispanic International Film Festival
Reproductive Rights – Sterilization
Award of Excellence – Impact Docs Awards
Reproductive Rights – Know Your Rights
Best Producing & Best Editing – iWomanTV Online Shorts Festival
Reproductive Rights – Know Your Rights
Honorable Mention – Open Road Film Festival

We held 4 screenings and 7 tabling events:
Talea Beer, July 23, September 17, New York
Lush Cosmetics, July 6, 13, 12, 20, October 18, 19 and 26, New York
Hear Me Roar – Barnard Women in Entertainment, October 29, online
She Opened the Door to Health Conference, March 2, Columbia University

Our Facebook reach increased from 3,000 to 54,000, and our Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn reach increased accordingly. Our email list grew by 45%, and our website traffic grew by 51%.

We received more than $55,000 in individual donations towards the production Episode 4, To Marry Whom We Love, or, Not at All. We completed the research and drafted the narrative script for this episode’s historical overview.

In 2025, we’ll expand our outreach to campus and community organizations, and release the historical narrative for Stand UP, Speak OUT: To Marry Whom We Love, or, Not At All, the story of American women’s 200+ years fight for agency and choice in singlehood and intimate relationships.

And here’s how you can help. If you know of any civic or social justice organizations that might be interested in including one of the Stand UP, Speak OUT short documentaries in their events, please email us. Our documentaries are a great catalyst for stimulating discussion and getting people into action around women’s rights. March, Women’s History Month, is prime time!

We look forward to a fruitful partnership with you in 2025, raising our voices, together, to ensure that women’s rights remain at the forefront of public consciousness as we face growing challenges to bodily autonomy, marriage equality, and access to economic opportunity.

Sincerely,
The BC Voices Team:
Katherine Brewster, President
Vicki Breitbart
Kathy Galvin
Rhonda Nunn
Susan Shapiro Metz
Carol Santaniello Spencer
Cheryl Weiner

Thanks to your support, BC Voices’ Stand UP, Speak OUT Docuseries just won two awards from the Depth of Field Film Festival.

Both Reproductive Rights – Know Your Rights and the Stand UP, Speak OUT Docuseries Intro, 200+Years: American Women Fight and Rise were awarded Best of Show.

Thank you for helping to make these films possible.