Lilly Ledbetter, Pioneer for Equal Pay and Women’s Rights, Passes Away at 86

Lilly Ledbetter, the women’s rights icon whose fight for fair pay reshaped U.S. labor laws, has died at 86 from respiratory failure. A family representative confirmed her passing Saturday night in Alabama, where Ledbetter was born and raised.

This news originally appeared on NBC News by Mirna Alsharif.

Ledbetter’s journey began in the 1990s when she received an anonymous note revealing that her male counterparts at Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. in Gadsden, Alabama—some with less experience—were being paid significantly more.

Though Ledbetter took her case to the Supreme Court, she lost on the grounds that she had missed the deadline to file her complaint. However, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s powerful dissent inspired Congress to take action. The result was the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, signed into law by President Barack Obama in 2009, which eased the statute of limitations for pay discrimination cases.

Just days before her passing, Ledbetter was honored with Advertising Week’s inaugural Future Is Female Lifetime Achievement Award. A biopic about her life, Lilly, starring Patricia Clarkson, also premiered at the Hamptons International Film Festival.

Ledbetter’s legacy endures, not only in the law bearing her name but also in the ongoing battle for workplace equality she inspired.

See the full report by Mirna Alsharif on NBC News.