As Charlotte Hays announced earlier this morning, the Senate voted against the Paycheck Fairness Act yesterday. Here is my take on the vote.
The failure of the Paycheck Fairness Act to pass a cloture vote in the Senate yesterday represents good news for women. The infamous wage gap is not a result of gender discrimination, but of personal choices, and the Paycheck Fairness Act biggest impact would have been on increasing trial lawyers’ paychecks, not women’s.
This past midterm election, 48 percent of women voted for the GOP because women understand that government meddling in business and the economy is against their own interest. They want the economic freedom to run their businesses as they see fit and negotiate with their employers according to their own needs. The GOP heeded their call yesterday.
Yesterday’s Senate decision was a vote:
- against government meddling with businesses’ compensation decisions
- against burdensome regulations and paperwork requirements
- against exposing businesses (most new business start-ups are women-owned) to far-greater liability and potentially frivolous lawsuits
- for the right of employers and workers to negotiate paychecks without increased government interference in the form of fair-pay guidelines
- for workplace flexibility
My colleague Hadley Heath predicted correctly that more women would side with Republicans this midterm election and the Senate decision to not move forward with the Paycheck Fairness Act is a vote independent women can appreciate.