"Now is the time to keep the promise of equal pay for an equal day’s work,” Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama said Aug. 28 in his convention acceptance speech. He told the crowd in Denver: “I want my daughters to have exactly the same opportunities as your sons.”
Obama’s campaign Web site is even more specific. Under the heading “Fighting for Pay Equity,” the women’s issues page laments that, “Despite decades of progress, women still make only 77 cents for every dollar a man makes. A recent study estimates it will take another 47 years for women to close the wage gap with men at Fortune 500 corporate offices. Barack Obama believes the government needs to take steps to better enforce the Equal Pay Act.”
Obama’s commitment to federally mandated pay equity stretches from the Rockies to Wall Street and beyond. And yet it seems to have eluded his U.S. Senate office. Compensation figures for his legislative staff reveal that the Illinois senator pays women just 83 cents for every dollar his men make.
Obama’s 28 male staffers divided among themselves total payroll expenditures of $1,523,120. Thus, Obama’s average male employee earned $54,397.
Obama’s 30 female employees split $1,354,580 among themselves, or $45,152, on average.
Why this disparity? One reason may be the under-representation of women in Obama’s highest-compensated ranks. Among Obama’s five best-paid advisers, only one was a woman. Among his top 20, seven were women.
Again, on average, Obama’s female staffers earn just 83 cents for every dollar his male staffers make. This figure certainly exceeds the 77-cent threshold that Obama’s campaign Web site condemns. However, 83 cents do not equal $1. In spite of this 17-cent gap between Obama’s rhetoric and reality, he chose to chide GOP presidential contender John McCain on this issue.
McCain’s payment patterns are the stuff of feminist dreams.
McCain’s 17 male staffers split $916,914, thus averaging $53,936. His 25 female employees divided $1,396,958 and averaged $55,878.
On average, according to these data, women in McCain’s office make $1.04 for every dollar a man makes. In fact, all other things being equal, a typical female staffer could earn 21 cents more per dollar paid to her male counterpart - while adding $10,726 to her annual income - by leaving Obama’s office and going to work for McCain.
McCain is more than fair with his female employees, while Obama - at the expense of the women who work for him - quietly perpetuates the very same pay-equity divide that he loudly denounces.
If you are a woman and believe in equal rights for all, not just men, John McCain and Sarah Palin is the team you should vote for.
BO says he is for equal pay for women but his actions do not reflect his words. You simply cannot trust this man. He says one thing but does another. It is the old "bait and switch" deal. Don't fall for those old tricks.
BO is "for" abortion, not equality.
Just say no deal!
"Rules are not sacred... principles are"
Franklyn D. Roosevelt
