Not a Good Year for Gender Equity

I'm so frustrated when I hear about news like this. A woman finally comes forward to point out pay discrimination over a long period of time at Goodyear. She tries to settle out of court for a reasonable amount ($60K) and is unsuccessful. She then tries in court and is awarded a much larger amount ($223K), and punitive damages ($3M) which are crazy in terms of being given to her. Finally in appeal it's overturned and she's smacked with a bill for $3,165 in costs.

Fear of class action suits, fear of escalating costs, because big companies can - there seems something distorted with various stages leading to this outcome. Rather than address what should be done to a. Make a point that it's not acceptable to discriminate and to b. Compensate individuals appropriately when harm is found but not award them a lottery like figure

I'd like to think if there were a better balance of women representatives in bodies that make policies and laws that some of these crazy rules would be more sane, not only to benefit gender based cases like these but in many other such similar cases.

In the meantime I shall not be supporting Goodyear.