the hypocrisy of john mccain: part II
by Matthew Kimball
Published: May 23, 2008
The saga continues. In the latest installment of this humble and modest senator’s various hypocrisies, we find John McCain opposing women’s rights. Maybe in celebration of Mother’s Day, the valiant senator announced he opposed the Fair Pay Act, which would eliminate wage discrimination against women in the workplace. The bill could overturn the Supreme Court’s recent decision in the Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. case, which drastically reduced women’s rights to file suit against wage discrimination. Senator McCain’s steadfast opposition to the Fair Pay Act severely contradicts his supposed family values and morals. Additionally, mass media has reluctantly kept its nose out of this incongruous sentiment.
Lets take a step back. More than forty years ago, President John F. Kennedy signed into law the Equal Pay Act (EPA), which made it illegal for any employer to discriminate with uneven pay wages to men and women who execute the same amount of work. While the law was enforced, wage disparities continue to this day. According to a National Women’s Law Center fact sheet, “Women working full-time, year-round earn only about 77 cents for every dollar earned by men, virtually the same amount women earned in 2005.” Its important to point out that many of these women work at the same professional level in their employment hierarchy and have attained the same amount of education as their male counterparts. The disparity also spans a wide array of occupations, including professional jobs such as physicians and lawyers.
The fact sheet also goes on to say that minority women sustain even worse wage discrimination. It reported, “the median earnings of African-American women working full-time, year-round were $30,352 compared $48,420 for white, non-Hispanic men; the median for Hispanic women was only $25,198.” The facts are evident and John McCain has the chance to sustain his familial values by supporting the critical new legislation.
McCain’s justification for opposing this monumental legislation is unsettling. In the liberal blog Think Progress, McCain is quoted as saying, “They need the education and training, particularly since more and more women are heads of their household, as much or more than anybody else.” His sentiment is completely out of touch with the real issues facing women, which in many cases is not education or training. It should be no surprise to anybody that women are achieving the same amount of academic excellence as men do and proceed without candor. In many cases, women outdo men in school and the same certainly goes for the workforce. The blog also quotes McCain as saying that the Fair Pay Act “opens us up to lawsuits for all kinds of problems.” That quote right there shows that John McCain is not willing to listen to the various injustices that women endure in the workforce.
This should be a red flag for any woman who is considering voting for the Arizona senator in November; John McCain doesn’t represent the interests of women and doesn’t endorse equal rights. News media outlets should be confronting Senator McCain with questions regarding this matter.
Gender Equity is imperative to the progression of democratic societies. While legislation exists to protect workers from multiple forms of discrimination, including gender, it’s not enforced to its full potential. We live in a society where women are targets of misogyny and are objectified for the pleasure of men. Passing legislation to protect women from wage discrimination would not only be a pivotal democratic amendment, but also a symbolic achievement in the ongoing struggle for basic human rights. John McCain has the opportunity to change his position on the Fair Pay Act and give women the recognition they deserve. Perhaps then, he can achieve the status of a revered “malcontent,” an adjective he used to describe the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Until then, the hypocrisy continues and no one in the media seems to care.
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May 29th, 2008 at 4:53 pm
First off, the median income statistics you give have little or nothing to do with fair pay, but rather other societal factors, so that section can be scratched from the argument.
Second, McCain’s vote against the act doesn’t make him anti womens rights, it just makes him supportive of business. The bill would have opened up the possibility for all kinds of pay discrimination class-action suits and created all kinds of problems for businesses who would have to deal with old claims. I’m not saying these claims would be bogus, but many would be based on speculation. For example, “he must be getting paid more than me because he’s male.” Gender equity legislation has been in place since the 60’s. These laws already in place make it costly for businesses to discriminate, and always acting in their best interests, they seldom will. By opposing this bill, McCain is only trying to protect our economy and businesses by screening extra suits. Only clear cases of discrimination, where the facts of the case can be put together in the alloted time period, should be heard.