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GOP to Women: Your Vagina isn't worth a Quarter.
Author: Raine    Date: 11/18/2010 13:27:11

Census data shows that the gap between men’s and women’s earning widened between 2007 and 2008 (annual wage data is not yet available for 2009) from 77.8 percent to 77.1 percent. Women who work full-time still earn, on average, 77 cents for every dollar men earn for performing the same work. Source

Congress is back in DC and they got right to work dealing with this issue: Pay Equity. Specifically, denying the right for women to be paid equally as men for the same positions. If you have a vagina, you get the privilege of not just the ability to propagate, and be the primary caregiver, work a job and save for your retirement -- you now have the right to earn 23 cents less than a man for a job. Now -- I know math is hard, but that's less than a quarter. How hard is it to cough up that extra 23 cents?

The pay equity act was one of the first bills passed in the House after Barack Obama took office. that was nearly 2 years ago. In the Senate it was championed by then Senator Hillary Clinton. Yesterday it was blocked by 58-41 votes. Why could something so benign be blocked?

Because a few people don't want *gender warfare*
“At a time when the unemployment rate is above 9 percent and almost 15 million Americans are out of work, the Paycheck Fairness Act would impose substantial new burdens on employers that would encourage hiring overseas and discourage hiring in America,” Furchtgott-Roth warns. “As the Washington Post concluded in a recent editorial, ‘Discrimination is abhorrent, but the Paycheck Fairness Act is not the right fix.’”

Let's not embark upon a journey that leads us to gender warfare.
So, according to this particular Executive recruiting blog, the Wall Street Journal who says it's just a silly 'obsession' we woman have and GOP Senators who said "Republicans and business groups said the bill would expose employers to more litigation by removing limits on punitive and compensatory damage awards. -- we just aren't worth it.

Ladies, we have a problem. We are a majority in this nation, and we are being told that we don't really deserve economic equality, because times are tough and business deserve more protection to not pay us equally. We are being told that WE are actually the problem.
It's no surprise a pay equity bill got voted down today. Women wanting equal pay is now seen as just an obsession, like needing a new pair of stilettos.

A Wall Street Journal op-ed yesterday bashed the Paycheck Fairness Act that could not overcome a Republic filibuster today, calling the drive to ensure equal pay for equal work an "obsession" and not grounded in reality. Women don't make less because of discrimination, the author contends. It's all about the choices we gals make - you know, asking for flexible hours or taking time off to birth babies. The author didn't mention the fact that more than 60 percent of women in the workplace are not even parents.
I find it sad that even the 2 venerable Republican Senators from Maine voted against this bill, considering that they are mandated by federal law to earn the same amount of money as their male counter-parts.

It goes to a larger point. From the above column:
The gender pay gap shouldn’t just be seen as merely a female fixation, especially in this economy. Since men have been hardest hit in this recession as far as job loss, the fact that their wives or girlfriends make 77 cents on the dollar to men suddenly hits the guys too.
You see, it hurts everyone -- except business. The GOP actually does believe that women are a lessor being than corporations and business. Woman and minorities (of which females are not) are really an inconvenience to that party. and when one considers the damage this does to the economic health of this nation, take this into account: Woman can expect HALF of the retirement savings as men. Yes, you read that right.

That's not all:
  • More than 22 million working women (22,416,000) do not have paid sick days.
  • 47 percent of women working in the private sector have no paid sick days.
  • In the industries that employ the most women--retail trade and accommodations/food service--55 percent and 78 percent of workers are without paid sick days, respectively. In those two industries alone, almost 9 million women (8,780,000) lack paid sick days.
  • 27 percent of low-income women (with incomes below 200 percent of the poverty level) put off getting health-care because they cannot take time off from work. 18 percent of women at all income levels face this situation.
  • Women are still the primary family caregivers.
  • 80 percent of mothers assume primary responsibility in the family for selecting their children's doctor, taking children to doctor's appointments, and arranging for their children's follow-up care.

I know we have big issues in this nation. There is DADT, DOMA, racism, the right to choose, tax cuts, unemployment, homelessness, foreclosures, the auto industry, our veterans, the wars, national security, seniors not being able to afford medicine, Social Security, budget woes, health care reform, Wall Street reform -- the list can go on. The thing is: when we can't exercise the same rights to the female majority of our population as the male minority then we will continue to slip backwards. Shame on the GOP for disrespecting the woman they say they love: partners, co-workers, spouses, daughters, sisters and maybe most of all: their mothers.

and

Raine



 

32 comments (Latest Comment: 11/19/2010 01:42:07 by livingonli)
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