Equal pay activist Lilly Ledbetter dies at age 86

Equal pay activist Lilly Ledbetter whose story paved the way for the Fair Pay Act, passed away at age 86.

Ledbetter's family said that she died Saturday as a result of a respiratory failure, according to The New York Times.

Ledbetter was working for Goodyear in Alabama in the 1990s when she found out she was making less than her male colleagues doing similar work. 

This resulted in a fight for equal pay that went through the courts and then to Congress and the White House where President Barack Obama later signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.

It started with Ledbetter filing a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in 1998 and suing the company she worked for in 1999.

The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act was the first act Obama signed into law, according to The Hill.

"Lilly Ledbetter never set out to be a trailblazer or a household name," Obama wrote on the social media platform, X. She just wanted to be paid the same as a man for her hard work. But this grandmother from Alabama kept on fighting until the day I signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act into law – my first as president."

"Lilly did what so many Americans before her have done: setting her sights high for herself and even higher for her children and grandchildren," the post continued. "Michelle and I are grateful for her advocacy and her friendship, and we send our love and prayers to her family and everyone who is continuing the fight that she began."