View source for 2014/04/16/Obama's equal-pay myth is one thing. The GOP's chauvinism is a problem

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[[title/short::Obama's equal-pay myth is one thing. The GOP's chauvinism is a problem]]
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* '''when''': [[when posted::2014/04/16]]
* '''author''': [[author::Ana Marie Cox]]
* '''source''': [[site::The Guardian]]
* '''topics''': [[topic::gender inequity]] [[topic::US Republican Party]] [[topic::wage-gap vigilantism]] [[topic::Obama-Biden administration]]
* '''keywords''' 
* '''link''': [[URL::http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/apr/16/obama-equal-pay-myth-77-cents-gop-bill]]
* '''title''': [[title::Obama's equal-pay myth is one thing. The GOP's chauvinism is a problem]]
* '''summary''': <call func=smw.let.echo key=Summary>"Go ahead, turn the White House's 77-cents quote into the new 47% video. But don't preach until you know where [[wage-gap vigilantism]] gets us"</call>
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<p>Republicans have been both very right and very wrong about their many [http://www.iwf.org/blog/2793593/Paycheck-Fairness-Act:-Not-Good-for-Paychecks-or-Fairness objections] over the [http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2014/04/08/3424220/gop-spokesperson-unable-to-say-how-republicans-would-ensure-pay-equity/ past week] to [http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/apr/08/obama-equal-pay-executive-actions-lgbt-need-not-apply the White House's flashy "paycheck equality" push]. They're right to characterize it as a mostly political ploy, an unserious legislative gambit to prove that Republicans are insensitive to the needs of working women. (Who knows why Democrats felt they had to force the issue � Republicans are perfectly capable of proving their insensitivity [http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/12/9-worst-things-said-womens-bodies-2013 all by themselves].) Republicans are also correct in pointing out that women have made steady gains receiving equal pay for equal work; if you correct for ''enough'' "lifestyle choice" factors, [http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/doublex/2013/08/gender_pay_gap_the_familiar_line_that_women_make_77_cents_to_every_man_s.html the gap almost disappears].</p>

<p>But here's where Republicans are wrong: they believe that a gender pay gap due to "lifestyle choices" is somehow OK, or inevitable, or � and this gets to the core fallacy of modern conservatism � that it is OK ''because'' it is inevitable.</p>

<p>The [[Obama-Biden administration|Obama administration]] has hammered on the misleading statistic that women make 77 cents for every dollar a man makes, and placed most of its rhetorical bet on claiming to have a solution to the problem of women not receiving equal pay for equal work.</p>

<p>Truth is, out of the many approaches outlined in the [[Paycheck Fairness Act]] (PFA) currently languishing in Congress, very few would do anything about the 77-cent problem, because that pay gap exists outside of the narrow scope of equally qualified women and men in the same job getting different pay.</p>
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