Four years ago today President Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, with Lilly Ledbetter, who suffered 20 years of pay discrimination while doing the same work as men at her Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. factory, looking on.

Now, she is urging people to call on Congress to pass the recently reintroduced Paycheck Fairness Act, calling it “the next step.”

Today, women make just 77 cents for every dollar made by a man for equal work, about $434,000 over their careers. Sponsors of the reintroduced Paycheck Fairness Act, Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) and Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), say the proposed bill will help close that gap. The pair has introduced the bill several times in recent years, but Republicans have been able to block action on the bill, most recently last summer with a Senate filibuster.

In a 52-47 vote, the U.S. Senate blocked a vote on the Paycheck Fairness Act this afternoon. With 60 votes needed to proceed to a vote on the bill, Republicans succeeded in blocking pay equity for women for the second time. 

More and more families depend on a woman’s paycheck to put food on the table and a roof overhead. We need decent wages and flexible workplaces with paid sick days and family leave. While Equal Pay Day is still fresh in our minds, let’s commit to getting involved in raising the standard of living for working women everywhere. Let’s build the movement for workplaces that support caregivers. Let’s start with Wal-Mart.

Do you believe wealthy Americans and corporations should pay their fair share in taxes and women should receive equal pay?  Then April 17 is “Twofer Tuesday.” As part of the 99% Spring movement, some 100,000 activists will use Tax Day as a platform to demand that the 1% and corporations pay their fair share. April 17 is also Equal Pay Day, the date symbolizing how far into 2012 women must work to earn what men earned in 2011.

Here’s a classic example of good news/bad news. First, the good news: The wage gap between what men earn and what women earn narrowed last year to its closest point ever, according to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR). The bad news? Women still earn an average of 17.8 percent less than men. More bad news: The gap only closed because wages for men have fallen further than for women.

Today, International Women’s Day 2012, marks a disappointing statistic: Worldwide, women are paid 18 percent on average less than their male counterparts at work. This startling fact comes from a new report released yesterday by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC).