Ledbetter ‘Strongly Offended’ By McCain’s Statement That Women Need ‘More Education,’ Not Equal Pay
Ledbetter ‘Strongly Offended’ By McCain’s Statement That Women Need ‘More Education,’ Not Equal Pay
Today, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on “Barriers to Justice: Examining Equal Pay for Equal Work.” One of the witnesses was retired Goodyear Tire employee Lilly Ledbetter, who was denied equal pay by her supervisor even though she was doing the exact same job as her male counterparts and received numerous performance-based awards. A highlight from today’s hearing:
Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) referred to McCain, saying, “One senior senator, who didn’t show up to vote on the act, said quote ‘women just need more education and job training.’”
Ledbetter said she was “strongly offended” by the McCain statement and that she frequently took continuing education courses while working for Goodyear.
As Ledbetter notes, the pay gap does not exist because of education inequality, despite what McCain said. Dana Goldstein points out that women increasingly make up majorities of college-degree holders:
Women account for 56 percent of the undergraduate student population and 59 percent of the graduate school population. Across all age groups, over half of all the people in the United States with a bachelor’s degree or master’s degree are women, though men do still make up the majority of Americans with a professional degree or doctorate. Younger generations are moving quickly toward parity.
McCain has claimed that he is “committed to making sure that there’s equal pay for equal work.” However, he opposed the Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which would have rectified the Supreme Court decision in Ledbetter v. Goodyear “that made it much harder for women and other workers to pursue pay discrimination claims.”
In 2000, McCain also opposed an amendment aimed at providing “more effective remedies to victims of discrimination in the payment of wages on the basis of sex.” In 1985, McCain voted against a study to investigate pay differences among federal employees and determine whether they were the result of discrimination.
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If pay for men was based on education, McStain wouldn’t have been so quick to vote against minimum wage.
Then again, if education was a criteria for holding public office, McStain wouldn’t be voting on anything.
But he would certainly have appreciated that minimum wage raise. At McDonald’s.
PEACE
September 24th, 2008 at 8:36 pmWhy would McCain care about equal pay???? Cindy has made a thousand times more in salery then john. Poor Jonny doesn’t realize the 99% of other women don’t get paid equally for doing the same job. But then again, Jonny boy thinks the fundementals of the economy is sound. YEA RIGHT!!!
September 24th, 2008 at 8:40 pmWhat?!! I didn’t think John’s views on women could get more draconian.
September 24th, 2008 at 9:20 pmOf course Johnie hates women…his dad helped him on his way when he was younger. His mom didn’t pack him any lunches in Vietnam when he went up on his flights.
Plus John Flub Flub thinks being married is a rental agreement. Palin’s put the “power of Christ” in him, alright…we just aren’t meant to see that part of it, yet.
September 24th, 2008 at 9:27 pmNOLIESPLEASE:
September 24th, 2008 at 9:31 pmPerhaps Cindy’s situation is why McCain thinks equal pay is unnecessary. Equal pay is not an issue when you inherit the family business and all its bounty. I’m sure John thinks she “earned” that and can’t understand why more people don’t follow in her footsteps.
Maybe we should cut ol’ Johnny a break on this one. It would be pretty hard to even understand anything about equal pay when you don’t know anyone that earns paycheck. Just baby steps with him him, then he can learn about dual income families.
September 24th, 2008 at 9:36 pmHow far did John McCain go with Mark Foley/Larry Craig?
September 24th, 2008 at 9:49 pmYou can’t put a dollar figure on those! Stop complaining.
September 24th, 2008 at 10:00 pmThe press has not given this matter nearly as much attention as this deserves. The whole Lilly Ledbetter situation should be a no-brainer. Yet McCain managed to find a lame reason to deny Ms. Ledbetter and many other women simple basic fairness.
If women knew about this, they would not be voting for McCain. So why has the press put this story in the obscured background?
Hmmm…I think I answered my own question.
September 24th, 2008 at 10:35 pmMcKeating doesn’t care about women–look at the hack job he did picking a running mate. We didn’t just want a woman, we wanted a woman who had brains and the ability to do the job from the get go, not another pair of boobs that just looks good in front of the cameras. There were so many more-abled women(and men)he could have picked for the second most important position in the US. It speaks volumes on his ideas that women “just need more education.” It states that he couldn’t care less and that he is old and stale in his ideas of what is driving this country. McKeating will do whatever it takes to placate the voters into being on his side and once he’s in office (God Forbid!) it will be as if everything he promised never came from his mouth. (Until he dies in office and we have Caribou Barbie in charge.)
September 25th, 2008 at 9:45 amAnd equal pay for women? Phooey! He doesn’t think there is a problem with minimum wage.