This afternoon President Barack Obama is expected to nominate U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White to succeed Elisse B. Walter as the next chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Sabrina Schaeffer says it best:
Unfortunately President Obama’s nomination of U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White is tainted with the question of whether it was done to satisfy liberal feminists, or because she’s really qualified for the job. Women shouldn’t be used as tokens to satisfy an obsession over gender parity coming from the left. Ultimately ideas and policy prescriptions should trump gender.
This nomination comes after heavy fire from the liberal feminist group National Organization for Women (NOW), which has a record of confusing gender parity with gender equality. Earlier this month they sent out a mass email to their supporters to petition President Obama to hire more women – especially women of color – and ask him "Where are the Women?'
In the same request NOW states "[t]here is no doubt that qualified women exist for each and every position [President Obama] will be called to fill." It's true! Our country is fortunate to have a growing number of women with the skills and experience that qualify them to serve in top positions in our nation's capital. But what's more critical than filling gender or racial quotas are the policy ideas and ideology of the candidate — man or women.
IWF has created a binder of highly qualified women in hopes that they will be recognized for high office and can advance our shared vison of a limited government, greater economic liberty and personal freedom.
Isn't this what NOW had in mind?