Holy Act of Congress, Batman! Equal Pay for Equal Work!

by Heidi Holmstrom, posted in Motion Pictures

Tomorrow is the fifth anniversary of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. In commemoration, we are posting this 1973 Public Service Announcement (PSA) in which Batgirl explains the concept of “equal pay for equal work” to her boss (Batman) and co-worker (Robin).

The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 was the first piece of legislation signed by President Barack Obama. It updated the Equal Pay Act of 1963 and the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which had made it illegal for employers to discriminate on the basis of sex when determining pay for employees doing the same work. The 2009 Act resets the 180-day statute of limitations for filing an equal pay lawsuit each time a paycheck reflecting a discriminatory pay decision is issued. It was named for Lilly Ledbetter, whose equal-pay suit against her employer was dismissed by the Supreme Court because she had not filed it within 180 days of the discriminatory pay decision. Ledbetter says she was not aware of the pay discrepancy during that window of time.

Batgirl1
It’s no joke–Batgirl was paid less than Robin for the same work. The Equal Pay Act of 1963 guarantees fair pay.

Pow! Zap! A Special Bonus PSA!

You may have noticed that the Batman featured in the above PSA was not played by Adam West. In order to satisfy all the Adam West fans out there, we are including a bonus Batman PSA from 1966. Here, the familiar Caped Crusader asks schoolchildren to buy war bonds to help support the troops in Vietnam.

5 thoughts on “Holy Act of Congress, Batman! Equal Pay for Equal Work!”

  1. Somehow I just realized that Batgirl would have lost her case just as Lilly Ledbetter did. Batgirl first appeared in the Batman series in 1967, and is making this complaint many years after the initial 180 day window would have expired. It’s a good thing Batman needs her to deactivate that bomb, or else she would have no recourse to force her employer to give her equal pay.

    1. Sadly, we haven’t yet come across the long version in our holdings, meaning that the only copy we have preserved on film is the short version.

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