Courtship Republican Style

Filed in National by on April 9, 2014

I don’t get it.  Seriously, I just don’t get it.  Republicans openly acknowledge that they have women issues.  They don’t pretend they don’t exist, so why in the world is their new “wooing women” strategy based on insulting women?  And the Republican statements over the gender pay gap give a stunning insight into how the GOP sees women.

Via TPM:

Neal Boortz, former shock jock, tweets out two statements that sum up the Republican “wooing women” strategy:

“What does it say about women voters that they’re so easily fooled and manipulated by the Democrats asinine “war on women” rhetoric?”

“Democrats to women: “Hey, we know you’re not, nor do you want to be informed, so we’ll push this ‘equal pay’ scam on you to get your votes.””

Easily fooled and manipulatedWe know you’re not, nor do you want to be informed?  That’s quite a serenade.  Love the way he pretends that he’s not saying these offensive things – Democrats are.  That’s straight out of the Huckabee playbook.  Say something offensive (Uncle Sugar, anyone?) and then walk it back by claiming it’s what the other side said (which isn’t remotely true).  Seriously, what is up with all these imaginary conversations in their heads?  There are meds for that condition.

And while the former shock jock will be dismissed by the GOP as an entertainer (one of their favorite tactics), Boortz is merely parroting the Republican message to women.  Let’s look at people the GOP considers “serious.”

National Republican Senatorial Committee spokesman Brad Dayspring tweeted Tuesday that the Paycheck Fairness Act being pushed by the White House and Democrats is nothing more than a “a political ploy designed to mislead women.”

Sabrina Schaeffer, executive director of the conservative Independent Women’s Forum, said Monday that the gender pay gap is actually a “myth” that makes women “feel weak.”

Are the words mislead, myth and weak really that different from easily fooled and manipulated and we know you’re not, nor do you want to be informed?  Nope.  They’re exactly the same.

Moving on to more serious Republicans:

Rep. Lynn Jenkins (R-Kan.), the House Republican conference’s vice chair:

Democrats’ push for pay equity between men and women is “condescending,” one of the top women in the House Republican leadership argued Tuesday, suggesting that the campaign for equal pay for equal work reflects a lack of understanding of women’s contributions to the workforce. […]
“Some folks don’t understand that women have become an extremely valuable part of the workforce today on their own merit, not because the government mandated it,” Jenkins said.

It’s condescending to women to be paid equal pay for equal work?  It’s some sort of “pride” thing that insults women?  So a woman doing the same job as a man and being paid less doesn’t need or want to be paid the same because that would be condescending?

But the War on Women wouldn’t be complete without the “women have babies” lifestyle argument.

Making matters slightly worse, American Bridge 21st Century PAC released a video today of Michigan’s Terri Lynn Land, the Republicans’ U.S. Senate hopeful, arguing, “Well, we all like to be paid more and that’s great. But the reality is that women have a different lifestyle. They have kids, they have to take them to get dentists’ appointments, doctors’ appointments all those kinds of things, and they’re more interested in flexibility in a job than pay.” [Update: An extended version of the clip with more context is availale here.]

So, Land not only sees women in traditional gender roles, but is also convinced that women aren’t especially concerned with receiving unequal pay for equal work – because “women have a different lifestyle.”

What he’s saying is: We value family and motherhood so much we’re going to pay women with children less.  The flip side of that, of course, is the age old reason for paying men more – men need to support the family.  Republicans really need to pick a side.  Either they have family values or they don’t.  (Psst… they don’t)

>And what about the women without children?  Oops!  I forgot.  Those women just want free slut pills so they can have child-free sex and go against God’s will.  They deserve to earn less because they didn’t procreate – and, besides, these childless women work along side men with families to support!  It all just goes in circles.  And the GOP’s logic only works if you believe in traditional gender roles and view unequal pay for equal work as a sort of punishment.  This is, once again, linked to controlling women.  I can almost see the movement to rescind a woman’s right to vote on the horizon.  Keep an eye on Santorum (the guy who made contraception an issue) and Huckabee.

Basically, the Republican plan to get the women’s vote is to insult women into voting for them.  They seem to believe that calling women weak, uninformed, easily fooled and manipulated, etc. will make women vote for them, because… they’d rather vote Republican than be called stupid?  Good luck with that ridiculous reverse psychology.

Know when this double-dog-dare strategy worked?  In middle school.

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A stay-at-home mom with an obsession for National politics.

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  1. Adding Insult to Injury . . . | From Pine View Farm | April 9, 2014
  1. Rhonda H Tuman says:

    They are so absurd and my first inclination is to push the women-bashing off to insanity, but knowing the masses as I do we must counter with the truth, louder and focused. We must support pay equity harder and stronger than ever.

  2. Joanne Christian says:

    You know, I feel like I have lived thru the time when there were tables of a man’s pay, family pay, and then womens’ pay. I really, truly am not being snarky or challenging. But for the life of me, I don’t know now in the last 20 years of what job fields those pay inequalities exist. Seriously, from govt. jobs I’ve taken to private industry etc., it was a stated table, contract, or negotiation that had the pay listed. Insert name of what person was doing that job. Can someone help me out here, of where it was or is a blatant discrimination in the workforce of where this “woman scale” was/is going on? I know Pres. Obama has said it’s upwards of 25% discrepancy overall–but can anyone here tell me where? Is it executive, industry, day labor, or any targeted category? Seriously, or are we just cleaning up some messes from previous generations? Cass, can you help me out? Thanks.

  3. pandora says:

    Here’s a good place to start, Joanne. And when we look at men and women fresh out of college (with no children, no experience, and the same degrees) we find women earning less.

  4. Joanne Christian says:

    “page couldn’t be found”…..but thanks pandora, the Bureau of Labor Statistics must have heard you are onto them, and are scrubbing the page as I write………:)

    I’ll go back later!!!!!

  5. mau5 says:

    http://freebeacon.com/issues/white-house-peddling-stats-debunked-by-own-adviser/

    Betsey Stevenson, a member of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, said to reporters on Monday that the White House assertion that women are paid 23 percent less than men for doing the same work was false.

    “If I said 77 cents was equal pay for equal work, then I completely misspoke,” Stevenson said. “So let me just apologize and say that I certainly wouldn’t have meant to say that.”

  6. ben says:

    Link doesnt seem to be working. could be my computer.\

    I’ll go ahead and post my thoughts knowing that I could change my mind when I read the article.

    I feel like another, not different, approach that could be taken, is to push for women to be in “male dominated jobs”, or to push for higher wages for jobs “usually filled by women”
    When I hear that women make $.70 on the dollar, I wonder if factors like Pro Sports have been taken into account. I wonder if professions like teaching or nursing (which, regardless of gender, pay FAR TOO LITTLE) that are dominated by women factor in to the FACT, not political opinion, that women make less than men.
    While more and more men are becoming comfortable with being a full time dad, I wonder how many women have had to make the decision to forgo professional development opportunities that would take them away from kids…. i.e take a full load of night classes while working full time so you can get a promotion. although I know many… including one super awesome woman (mommy ben) who have done precisely that and killed all 3. (done well, not killed their kids)
    I am not at all questioning whether discrimination still happens. Im quite sure there are old men making decisions about pay, and very well may have been huge beneficiaries of gender discrimination early in their careers. the Sheldon Adelsons of the world have no interest in making things different. I’m sure it happens. What I also heavily suspect is that jobs that are more frequently held by women simply pay less than jobs that are more frequently held by men. I also name that discrimination. Hospital CEOs decide how much nurses make…. School boards, superintendents, and local government officials decide what teachers should make. I wonder if there is equal gender diversity among Hospital CEOs and school administration.
    If anything, I think the Democratic strategy is too narrow. It allows people to falsely state that the message is “every single woman will get a raise of they vote democratic”. Think bigger. Target the underpaid professions in general that are majority female and many. many, deserving people will get a raise.

  7. pandora says:

    Here’s what’s interesting… Republicans (read all the above comments) aren’t arguing that the pay difference exists. They are calling women names.

    Links are in this article. Sorry.

  8. ben says:

    Oh, their strategy couldn’t be worse. Getting into dangerous ground here…. but even the women who come to have a voice in the GOP seem to have been allowed to advance because of their ineptitude and lack of enough political skill to threaten the status quo. They never saw Palin as anything other than the girl holding the “round 4” sign at a boxing match.
    And thanks for that article, btw.. many of my outlier concerns were addressed. I still think it is a 2-front war. 1, women in the same job as men with the same (or more) set of credentials are still making less. 2, jobs primarily filled by women just pay less… these also happen to be jobs that we as a society should be better compensating anyway.
    For a much of a “family nation” the right likes to oink about… they sure dont give a flying fuck about anything that would ACTUALLY improve the lives of families. If women make more money, your wives, mothers and daughters will all make more money, and your family will be better off for it.
    Or maybe the entire decision making group are sad, lonely, bitter men.

  9. Geezer says:

    “I don’t know now in the last 20 years of what job fields those pay inequalities exist. … Can someone help me out here,”

    From a fact-check piece on the “77 cents per dollar” claim, which it debunked:

    “The IWPR study found that “median earnings are lower than men’s in nearly all occupations.” But for the most part, the gap for “the same work” is not as wide as Obama’s figure suggests. Of the 36 different occupational categories in the study, in only seven were women paid 77 percent of the pay of men or less.

    Female bookkeeping clerks and stock clerks actually made slightly more than their male counterparts, for example. Registered nurses made nearly 96 percent, elementary and middle school teachers made 91 percent, secondary school teachers made 94 percent, and police officers made 99 percent.

    There’s wide variation, to be sure. Female chief executives still make only 69 percent, and female financial managers make just 66 percent, of their male counterparts’ earnings. And this study didn’t find enough female electricians, construction workers, grounds maintenance workers, carpenters or auto mechanics to make a valid comparison.”

    You know what I notice there? The pay disparity shrinks in unionized job settings.

  10. Joanne Christian says:

    Well thank you geezer! Why I just feel like I got a “bonus pay” in your well-tempered , humane response to me 🙂 !

    Can’t take it to the bank, but thanks for contributing to a nice day!

    I guess it isn’t always about the paycheck huh ? 🙂

    Thanks again.

  11. Geezer says:

    A call for more information should not summon my usual crappy attitude.

  12. SussexAnon says:

    Republicans are being ruled by fear. Unless you speak “scared old white rural male”, you are subject to attack.

    No amount of reality, honesty, or fact is going to change the problem of Republicans fears of being primaried by the tea party right.

    The left, media, and all of humanity can shame a republican into reality, but that doesn’t mean he is going to turn his back on his tried and true talking points (and activist base). Its about job security.

  13. Unstable Isotope says:

    Good data from the AAUW, which has been tracking this for years

    http://www.aauw.org/research/the-simple-truth-about-the-gender-pay-gap/

  14. Davy says:

    http://www.aauw.org/files/2013/03/Graduating-to-a-Pay-Gap-The-Earnings-of-Women-and-Men-One-Year-after-College-Graduation-Executive-Summary-and-Recommendations.pdf

    From the AAUW’s report:

    “Controlling for occupation, college major, hours worked per week, and many other factors all at once, we found that college-educated women working full time were paid an unexplained 7 percent less than their male peers were paid one year out of college.”

    The AAUW offered two explanations for the unexplained gap:

    “Gender discrimination is one potential contributor to the unexplained pay gap.”

    “Another possible explanation for the unexplained portion of the pay gap is a gender difference in willingness and and ability to negotiate salary.”

    The AAUW now runs workshops about negotiating salary.

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  16. Joanne Christian says:

    Oh hi Unstable Isotope!! Great to hear you in orbit again! Thanks for the link—funny thing is–one of my daughters was awarded a college scholarship from them (AAUW) a few years back…..so of course….a GREAT resource!

    Thanks again, and great hearing from you!

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