City Commission to Screen Lilly Ledbetter Film Clips at Pay Equity Event

The City of Pasadena Commission on the Status of Women will host a Women’s History Month program focused on pay equity March 14, using clips from the Lilly Ledbetter biopic to frame a panel discussion on workplace wage gaps in a city where women earn 17% less than men.

The event, titled “HERstory 2026: The Path Forward for Pay Equity,” will run from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Robinson Park Recreation Center, 1081 N. Fair Oaks Ave., according to event materials released by the Commission. Doors open at 10:30 a.m. Registration is required at Bit.ly/PasadenaHerstory2026.

The program will feature curated excerpts from “Lilly,” a 2024 drama starring Patricia Clarkson as equal pay activist Lilly Ledbetter, paired with a live panel discussion, according to the event description. The Commission has not yet publicly announced panelists for the discussion.

Ledbetter’s fight against pay discrimination at Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. led to a landmark Supreme Court case and, ultimately, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, signed by President Barack Obama on January 29, 2009. Ledbetter died on October 12, 2024, at age 86, two days after the film premiered at the Hamptons International Film Festival.

The Pasadena event ties a national story to local data. According to a 2022 report on the Status of Women and Girls in Pasadena, the city’s gender wage gap of 17% is larger than the statewide average and actually widened between 2014 and 2019. The Commission has listed promoting adoption of the California Equal Pay Pledge by City Council and the business community as a specific action item in its work plan, according to Commission meeting records.

The HERstory program has been held annually since at least 2018, according to city records. Last year’s event focused on financial resilience for women. Despite the Commission’s ongoing programming, the most recent available local data shows the wage gap grew during the period studied.

Parking is available on the street and in the south lot. Prior HERstory events have been free, though the Commission has not explicitly confirmed cost for the 2026 program.

“We are so excited and eager for the month of March as we always are,” Commission Chair Vanessa F. Rodriguez said at a City Council meeting in February 2025 when the city proclaimed Women’s History Month.