The media's story du jour is whether Hillary Clinton supporters will flee the Democratic party and vote for John McCain in November. Sure, those of us who supported Clinton (after we didn't support her!), are still in a bit of a daze. But let's not forget where McCain stands on so many issues that we care about.
I'm not even talking about the hot-button topic like Roe v. Wade. I'm talking about fair pay.
John McCain couldn't care less about whether women are paid the same as men for the same work. How can I say that so unequivocally? Well, two things.
First, he refused to return to Washington, D.C. to vote on the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act when it came up for a vote in April. Second, even if he had, he would have voted against it.
As far as McCain is concerned, women shouldn't have the right to sue their employers if they find out they've been getting paid less than their male counterparts. You know how hurtful that is to those big corporate profits.
But, being the compassionate kind of guy he is, he explained what we little ladies really need is to just to get a little more training -- you
know, some extra classes or vocational skills and then there would be
no need for us to think about suing any bosses because with a little
extra hard work, we can bring ourselves up to get paid as much as man!
I'm not quite sure how this will help women who have been discriminated against in getting the back pay they should be entitled to, but it gives you a sense of where McCain's priorities are for women -- pretty far down the totem poll, maybe next to his views on family planning?
So, tomorrow some "magnificently overqualified" women are going to be delivering their resumes to John McCain's Senate office on Capitol Hill. Why? To call him out on the outright hubris of such statements. To show America the real McCain, the one who doesn't have a lot of respect for women who work hard every day to feed their families, even as food prices soar, and to keep gas in the car, even as we race closer to $5 a gallon gas.
You can also send your resume to John McCain through a MomsRising petition, to let him know there are thousands of us out here who are plenty qualified for the jobs we have and that we still want, and need, the right to fair pay and the ability to take action against employers who believe it's acceptable in 2008 to pay us less just because we wear skirts and shave our legs (sometimes!).
Like when I was the TV "news girl" who got paid less even though I did more work than the guys.
Like when I practiced law, and got paid less even though I billed as many hours and my work was as good, if not better, than the guys.
And like so many other women who, like Lily Ledbetter, find out years after the fact that every time they'd been getting a paycheck to help put food on the table, some man doing the exact same job was getting paid more not because he had seniority or because his job description was different, but because he had a 'Y' chromosome.
Senator McCain, I've got a bachelor's degree and a law degree, as well as close to 30 years of professional experience. How much more "training" do I need to make sure I get paid the same as the men you know with my education and skills?
Maybe a better question is this -- would it be OK with you if one of your daughters got cheated out of her rightful salary and had no recourse? Just a little food for thought while you're out there patronizing us on the campaign trail.
When she's not steaming about John McCain's clear indifference to women voters, even though he likes to pretend he cares, you can find MOMocrat Joanne at her place, PunditMom, as well as BlogHer and The Huffington Post.
This is what drives me absolutely crazy about these women declaring with much certainty and bitterness that they will vote for McCain. They're setting themselves up for a royal screwing. But try and argue with them and they just dig in more.
Posted by: Karoli | June 16, 2008 at 10:09 AM
I don't understand how any woman can support someone who would not support the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. This is the one issue that seems so logical and apparent (equal pay for equal work and experience), that I am incredulous that anyone would be against it. The fact that such a measure had to be written -- and that is still DIDN'T PASS -- and that we are still fighting this fight 40 years after "women's lib"... well, it makes me crazy. And raging against the McCain.
Posted by: Donna | June 16, 2008 at 10:25 AM
Excellent post PunditMom.
Posted by: AmyInOhio | June 16, 2008 at 10:27 AM
Amen, sister.
Posted by: Lawyer Mama | June 16, 2008 at 12:47 PM
Thanks for posting Joanne. My resume has been sent to Moms Rising.
Posted by: Mom101 | June 16, 2008 at 03:57 PM
You're misrepresenting what McCain said. He said the following:
"They need the education and training, particularly since more and more women are heads of their households, as much or more than anybody else," McCain said. "And it's hard for them to leave their families when they don't have somebody to take care of them.
"It's a vicious cycle that's affecting women, particularly in a part of the country like this, where mining is the mainstay; traditionally, women have not gone into that line of work, to say the least,"
He's saying that women in low paying low skill requiring jobs need training so that they can go and compete in the modern workforce.
Please try again.
Posted by: Melisa | June 16, 2008 at 05:11 PM
Not misrepresenting what McCain is saying. That was part of it, but he doesn't think women should have the right to sue their employers when they've been cheated, and then made the comments about training.
Re-direction might work with toddlers, but it doesn't work with grown-ups. And I really don't think the MomsRising women got it wrong, either.
Posted by: PunditMom | June 16, 2008 at 05:14 PM
He was talking about how low earning women in general can earn more for their families. He wasn't referring to job training as a way for women to earn the same as a similarly qualified man.
When you write things like: "Senator McCain, I've got a bachelor's degree and a law degree, as well as close to 30 years of professional experience. How much more "training" do I need to make sure I get paid the same as the men you know with my education and skills?"
You're making it sound like he's saying you need another graduate degree to make the same as your peers. That's just not true.
Posted by: Melisa | June 16, 2008 at 05:33 PM
Well then if that's true that Senator McCain was not addressing his views on the Fair Pay Act when speaking about "more training and professional experience," then why was that the answer he gave when asked specifically about fair pay? Maybe because he was avoiding saying that he DOES NOT SUPPORT the Fair Pay Act. This is fact; not only did he not bother to show up for the vote, but he himself stated that he would have voted against it. There's not much to misrepresent there, he would have voted no, plain and simple.
But what about those poor women who are unable to leave their families because there is no one to care for the children? What has McCain done to ensure that good, affordable childcare is available for these women? What has he done to ensure that these women work in environments that are family friendly with paid sick days for when their children are ill and unable to go to their good, affordable child care centers that he supposedly cares so much about?
I would be thrilled to hear answers to all of these questions now that I know how concerned McCain is about these workforce issues that women face every day.
Posted by: Jo-Ann | June 16, 2008 at 06:33 PM
To be honest Jo-Ann, I'd like to ask McCain those same questions myself. The only things I've read so far is that he wants to double the child dependent tax credit. I'm not a McCain spokesperson; I'm just a mom who tries to sift through the B.S that most political campaigns are about.
Also, he was not avoiding saying that he "DOES NOT SUPPORT" the Fair Pay Act of 2008; he was very candid about the fact that he would have voted no.
Posted by: Melisa | June 16, 2008 at 10:25 PM
Bravo Joanne. I'm ditto with Donna: how can any woman support a candidate who opposes the Lily Ledbetter Far Pay Act?
That's someone who'll choose business over people.
That's someone who just tacitly endorsed unfair pay.
Posted by: Julie Pippert | June 17, 2008 at 04:51 AM
Then I'm not sure how you think the original post was a misrepresentation? When you sift through McCain's BS, he's actually pretty clear on where he stands on all of these issues. He stands firmly and squarely against fair pay and has little to no regard for the issues that face women in the workforce like affordable, quality daycare and the expansion of the Family and Medical Leave Act.
Posted by: Jo-Ann | June 17, 2008 at 04:59 AM
"Then I'm not sure how you think the original post was a misrepresentation?"
You are saying that McCain believes you need "more training" than your peers to earn the same amount of money. Again, that is not what he said. He *didn't* say what was needed for women to earn the same as their similarly qualified male peers.
"When you sift through McCain's BS, he's actually pretty clear on where he stands on all of these issues. He stands firmly and squarely against fair pay and has little to no regard for the issues that face women in the workforce like affordable, quality daycare and the expansion of the Family and Medical Leave Act."
Fine. These are all valid statements to make. We should attack him and ask him about these issues and not ones that are made up so as to have a witty headline. I take offense when a candidate is attacked on non-issues or made up issues (Hillary's cleavage, Barack Obama's "muslim" education, for example).
Posted by: Melisa | June 17, 2008 at 10:40 AM
He doesn't get it. In simple terms that even a Republican can udnerstand (oops, my bias is showing), McCain doesn't understand. He does not consider a female with equivalent skills to be equal to a male in the same job.
He needs to sit down with my peer across the school hallway -- the one who (with ten years less experience than I have) offered to "talk to" my class and explain, in a "male voice", how they should behave.
And then I could tell them both exactly where to go. In my Strong Teacher Voice.
Posted by: Daisy | June 17, 2008 at 10:41 AM