The “Lilly Ledbetter” Lie

In his desperate focus on female voters, President Obama not only cites an imaginary GOP “War on Women” but trumpets his own epic achievements-including the “Lilly Ledbetter Law” which supposedly guaranteed that women receive equal pay for equal work. The problem with this narrative is that this guarantee actually became law with President Kennedy’s Equal Pay Act in 1963.

The Ledbetter Law merely expands the time to file lawsuits, helping attorneys more than women workers. Experts agree that remaining disparities with men have more to do with female priorities than outright discrimination-for instance, women are more likely to take breaks for child-rearing, and less likely to relocate for career advancement.

Meanwhile, female salaries and job opportunities have fallen even more sharply than men’s under Barack Obama’s miserably misguided economic policies—hardly a record of feminist achievement.