As if there weren’t enough reasons to avoid being a woman in Wisconsin.

It’s not bad enough that women are being labeled child abusers for being single parents.4

It’s not enough that women are being denied access to abortion, birth control, or protection from domestic violence.

No, women in Wisconsin who suffer the indignity of being paid less for their labor than the men in their workplace now have fewer options for demanding justice.

Gov. Scott Walker, who is facing a recall election, recently signed a bill that repeals a 2009 law that made it easier to enforce equal pay for equal work.  Under the terms of that law, women could bring charges against their employers at a state level.  Now?  They need to make it a federal issue.

In Wisconsin, equal pay is a serious issue.  While nationally, women make only 77% of what men earn, in Wisconsin there is a further 2% disparity.  And losing a full quarter of your economic value simply for being a woman is a serious toll, and a serious problem.

Wisconsin has been at the forefront of the war on women.  Now we are finally seeing the honesty of it, without pretense.  There is no world in which it is okay to institutionalize discrimination against women.

But there is Wisconsin.