BEAVER CREEK, Colorado— Colorado women currently earn approximately 79 cents for every dollar earned by men. This pay gap will be the subject of a luncheon Tuesday at the Park Hyatt Beaver Creek Resort and Spa in Avon, hosted by the Vail Valley Regional Steering Committee of The Women's Foundation of Colorado.

“A Place at Lilly's Table: Closing the Pay Gap for Women” will feature Equal Pay for Equal Work advocate Lilly Ledbetter as the keynote speaker. The event raises money for the Women's Foundation's efforts to combat the dropout rate of Colorado's high school girls.

After working at Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company for nearly 20 years, Ledbetter received an anonymous note informing her that her pay over the years had been consistently less than nearly all of her male coworkers performing the same work. She sued Goodyear and won a jury verdict of more than $3 million, but in 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the award by a 5-4 margin, ruling that Ledbetter had waited too long to bring her claim.

Outrage over this ruling led to the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, allowing victims of pay discrimination more time to file complaints. The bill was signed by President Obama in January.

“Equal pay is an important issue for women and girls in Colorado as they strive to achieve economic success,” said Gretchen Gagel McComb, president and CEO of The Women's Foundation of Colorado. “Today, about 75 percent of women 25 to 54 years old are either working or actively seeking a job. They deserve to receive pay equal to their male counterparts.”

The luncheon is from noon to 1:30 p.m. at the Park Hyatt Beaver Creek Resort and Spa. The cost is $50 per person. To purchase tickets, contact The Women's Foundation of Colorado by calling Roweena Naidoo at 303-285-2971 or by registering at www.wfco.org.

It is sponsored by The Club at Cordillera, the Wilhelm Family Partnership and The Beaver Creek Resort Company.