The Female Factor
A timely series of news bytes from the Independent Women’s Forum
In an attempt to attract women voters, Senator Barrack Obama has released a campaign advertisement highlighting the so-called “equal pay” issue. In addition to repeating false statistics about differences in women’s and men’s earnings for the same work (for more on these misleading statistics, see the article”Yesterday’s Women for Obama,” on IWF’s website), this advertisement wrongly equates supporting legislation to change statutes of limitation for lawsuits with support for the basic concept of equal pay.
“It is already the law of the land that men and women must be paid the same when they perform the same work. Everyone supports this basic concept of fairness,” said IWF vice president for policy and economics Carrie Lukas. “In this advertisement, Senator Obama attempts to tar those who oppose changing the statue of limitations for filing discrimination lawsuits as being somehow ‘against’ equal pay for women. That is a ridiculous leap. Surely people can honestly disagree about the appropriate balance between protecting the rights of the accused and the accuser without degenerating into this kind of character assassination.”
In addition, Senator Obama supports expanding government’s ability to micromanage how compensation packages are arranged in private companies. “This is a bad idea,” added IWF’s Allison Kasic. “It will reduce workplace flexibility-recognizing that simple fact doesn’t mean that I don’t believe in equal pay, it just means I don’t believe in big brother government.”
To interview IWF scholars, or to receive an e-mail version of “The Female Factor,” contact [email protected] or call Media Services at the Independent Women’s Forum at (202) 349-5882.