Face The State Staff Editorial
As Democratic Presidential hopeful Barack Obama continues his tour of western swing states, including Colorado, he wants you to have hope in what the government can do for America's future. It's just too bad that when it comes to pay equity for women, his rhetoric is sorely out of touch with his own reality.
Stephen Finn/Dreamstime
In New Mexico last week, Obama launched an attack on John McCain for the Arizona Republican's alleged lack of support of gender pay legislation introduced in the U.S. Senate earlier this year.
As CNSNews.com reported, Obama told the crowd: "Mr. McCain is an honorable man, we respect his service. But when you look at our records and our plans on issues that matter to working women, the choice could not be clearer...It starts with equal pay. Sixty-two percent of working women in America earn half or more than of their family's income. But women still earn 77 cents for every dollar earned by men in 2008. You'd think that Washington would be united it its determination to fight for equal pay."
But as CNSNews.com observes, Obama's female Senate staffers earn far less than his male staffers. The average pay for the 33 men on Obama's staff was $59,207, while the average pay for the 31 women was $48,729.91.” That's an average difference of at least $6,000 a year. Contrast this with John McCain's staff. McCain, an Arizona Republican, "employed a total of 69 people during the reporting period ending in the fall of 2007, but 23 of them were interns. Of his non-intern employees, 30 were women and 16 were men. After excluding interns, the average pay for the 30 women on McCain's staff was $59,104.51. The 16 non-intern males in McCain's office, by comparison, were paid an average of $56,628.83."
The difference between the two candidates: Obama strongly supports government intervention when it comes to gender pay equity. While Obama supported April's Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act - legislation that would have extended the limit on how long an employee can wait before suing an employer for pay discrimination - McCain was campaigning when the vote took place, indicating that he did not support it and feared it would open the door to too much litigation.
The bill, which failed to pass, arose after a U.S. Supreme Court case threw out a woman's gender pay discrimination case, saying she waiting too long to file a complaint.
Is Obama sexist? Probably not. An analysis of his office salaries, however, is a perfect example of how the so-called gender wage gap is truly a fallacy. Obama perpetuates the lie that women earn just 77 percent of what men earn. The real politically inconvenient question he should be asking: Do they earn less for the same work?
The fact is, when men and women with the same job experience, education and credentials are compared, the salary gap shrinks by double digits. The biggest difference in pay: Women are less aggressive in salary negotiations and they are more likely to take time off to have children or care for aging parents. Less time in the workplace means less money. It's basic economics.
While Obama is busy peddling the same tired victim rhetoric, Coloradans are taking real action towards restoring equality. Voters are preparing to cast a ballot on the Colorado Civil Rights Initiative, or Amendment 46, which if passed in November, would eliminate race and gender preferences and discrimination in government hiring, education, and contracting. A recent national survey conducted jointly by the Wall Street Journal, WashingtonPost.com, and Quinnipiac University showed that 66 percent of all voters surveyed were supportive of the initiative’s language. Ironically but not surprisingly, Obama has come out against the measure.
The bottom line: While Obama is busy peddling a message that women are victims of a sexist system, McCain is empowering women to make it without the nagging hand of government. Women can make it. They are making it. And for those women looking for a job on Capitol Hill, they may just want to apply at McCain's office first.