Fair Pay Act namesake addresses DNC

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CHARLOTTE, N.C., Sept. 4 (UPI) -- Lilly Ledbetter, namesake of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, told Democrats in Charlotte, N.C., Tuesday the battle she fought is about "equality and justice."

Thanks to the act that bears her name, "Women who faced pay discrimination like I did now can get their day in court," she said Tuesday at the Democratic National Convention.

That the act was the first bill President Barack Obama signed into law "says something about his priorities," she said.

Obama believes making the U.S. economy work means "making sure it works for everybody," Ledbetter said, noting women still earn an average of 77 cents for every dollar men earn.

Obama says the Lilly Ledbetter Act makes it easier for women to demand equal pay for equal work, and he is pushing for legislation that would give women more tools to fight pay discrimination and would encourage workplaces to be more flexible.

"Maybe 23 cents doesn't sound like a lot [for someone with] a Swiss bank account or Cayman Island investments," Ledbetter said, "But Governor Romney, when we lose 23 cents every hour, every day every paycheck, what we lose cannot be measured just in dollars."

Ledbetter said she didn't get a dime in her discrimination suit that ultimately was rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court, "but this fight became bigger than Lilly Ledbetter. It's about my daughter and my granddaughter. It's about women and men. It's about families. It's about equality and justice."

"With President Barack Obama," she said, "we're going to win."