Barack Obama Doesn’t Give Women Campaign Staffers Equal Pay
Barack Obama has made a point about talking about equal pay for woman during this campaign. Nothing wrong with that, people who can do the same job and are just as productive should earn the same amount. But I just found an interesting tidbit about the women on BaracK Obama’s campaign staff.
Barack Obama has said that it is unfair for women to receive an average pay that is only 77% of that of men who perform the same job as them. He is correct about that and now Barack Obama has done something about it. He pays his women staff workers 78% of what he pays his men. Kudos to Obama for upping their average pay in relation to men’s pay one penny compared to the national average.
Again we find out that while publicly Barack Obama has one stance on an issue, privately he doesn’t quite practice what he preaches. The women on John McCain’s campaign on the other hand earn 24% more than those on Obama’s campaign. This means that the women on McCain’s staff receive equal pay to the men on his staff, and it can be realistically assumed that the women on McCain’s staff receive about the same as the men on Barack Obama’s staff.
We all remember Obama’s condescending remark to a female reporter, “hold on there one second, sweety.”, so it isn’t suprising that maybe Barack Obama does feel as though he needs to pay the women on his staff the same as men.
And yet Obama is attacking John McCain in a television commercial about McCain’s policies on equal pay for women. It makes no sense.
America's Watchtower 
Just pointing out…
Later on in the article…
“NOW President Kim Gandy did not view the pay disparity as a problem.
“It depends on what positions they’re in,” Gandy told CNSNews.com. “Certain positions are paid more than other positions. I do know quite a number of women very high up in his staff and in his campaign who are extraordinarily strong supporters of women’s rights. We don’t advocate people be hired because of their gender. We advocated people be hired and paid without regard to their gender.”
According to the article, the highest paid women in Obama’s office is an administrative manager. Just wondering whether there’s a male administrative manager in the Obama office and how much he earns.
Equal pay for equal *work.*
And I say this as a fervent feminist.
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I would like to see the numbers behind the linked article because I am wondering if they are comparing like positions (positions with same responsibilities). The article seems to be rather lacking on specific numbers.
McCain had opened up an attack against himself when he voiced opposition of the bill in question. He probably should have kept his mouth shut and let the record show that he did not vote on the cloture.
Basically, McCain has said that he opposed the bill because it would open too many companies to lawsuits not because of the merits of the bill. To me, this shows that big business is more important to McCain than equality.
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Of course it makes sense – he’s a politician!!
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You’re right Tom, what was I thinking?
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This quote is from here: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/378772_murdockonline12.html
“The most recent statistics are for the half-year from Oct. 1, 2007 to March 31, 2008, excluding interns and focusing on full-time personnel. For someone who worked only until, say, last Feb. 29, extrapolating up to six months’ service simplifies this analysis. Doubling these half-year figures illustrates how a year’s worth of Senate employees’ paychecks should look.
Based on these calculations, Obama’s 28 male staffers divided among themselves total payroll expenditures of $1,523,120. Thus, Obama’s average male employee earned $54,397.
Obama’s 30 female employees split $1,354,580 among themselves, or $45,152, on average.
Why this disparity? One reason may be the under-representation of women in Obama’s highest-compensated ranks. Among Obama’s five best-paid advisors, only one was a woman. Among his top 20, seven were women.
Again, on average, Obama’s female staffers earn just 83 cents for every dollar his male staffers make. This figure certainly exceeds the 77-cent threshold that Obama’s campaign website condemns. However, 83 cents do not equal $1. In spite of this 17-cent gap between Obama’s rhetoric and reality, he chose to chide GOP presidential contender John McCain on this issue.
Obama responded Aug. 31 to Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s Republican vice-presidential nomination. Palin “seems like a very engaging person,” Obama told voters in Toledo, Ohio. “But I’ve got to say, she’s opposed — like John McCain is — to equal pay for equal work. That doesn’t make much sense to me.”
Obama’s criticism notwithstanding, McCain’s payment patterns are the stuff of feminist dreams.
McCain’s 17 male staffers split $916,914, thus averaging $53,936. His 25 female employees divided $1,396,958 and averaged $55,878.
On average, according to these data, women in John McCain’s office make $1.04 for every dollar a man makes. In fact, all other things being equal, a typical female staffer could earn 21 cents more per dollar paid to her male counterpart — while adding $10,726 to her annual income — by leaving Barack Obama’s office and going to work for John McCain.
How could this be?
One explanation could be that women compose a majority of McCain’s highest-paid aides. Among his top-five best-compensated staffers, three are women. Of his 20-highest-salaried employees, 13 are women. The Republican presidential nominee relies on women — much more than men — for advice at the highest, and thus, best-paid levels.”
So Obama not only pays them less, he also employs them less.
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