It’s sort of weird, right, that in the year 2012 equal pay for women has become a campaign issue in the presidential race?
But the facts remain the facts: In modern America, women are still paid roughly eighty cents for every dollar paid to men in comparable positions.
The Democratic and Republican parties are feuding over what that means and how to deal with it, not least because women have emerged as one of the defining voter blocs in national politics.
This week the Plattsburgh Press Republican offered some context for this discussion, recalling that just 25 years ago women weren’t even allowed into Rotary, one of the country’s most influential civic and business organizations.
We asked Rotarians from time to time in the ‘80s why women hadn’t been welcomed into the club, and a couple of older members said then that admitting women would douse the exchange of off-color humor.
In their editorial, the Press-Republican noted that a quarter century ago, women comprised some of the city’s most prominent business and civic leaders – and yet they were excluded.
That’s not a glass ceiling. That’s just good old fashioned discrimination.
“Restricting who can join based on superficial criteria is anti-American and just plain bad business,” the article concludes. “Every organization should want the best — not just half of the best.”
I wonder if someday soon we’ll look back on the equal pay issue in a similar light. Is it good business to pay an equally talented worker a fifth less than her male counterpart?
As always, comments welcome.