Romney in a Bind(er)

Romney in a binder? No, Romney had women in a binder and women didn't like it at all. Of course, I'm referring to the uproar over what Romney said about women in a binder during the second Presidential debate. Here's the dialogue leading up to Romney's gaffe.

Moderator Crowley: "Governor Romney, pay equity for women?"

Romney: "Thank you. An important topic, and one which I learned a great deal about, particularly as I was serving as governor of my state, because I had a chance to pull together a cabinet and all the applicants seemed to be men."

"And I . . and I went to my staff, and I said 'How come all the people for these jobs are - are all men.' They said, 'Well, these are the people that have the qualifications.'"

Hold everything. Let me interrupt this conversation. This was 2002. In 2002 Romney's staff was claiming no women- as in zero women - were qualified for these jobs. No wonder women were mad.

Romney replies to staff member: "And I said, 'Well, gosh, can't we - can't we
find some - some women that are also qualified."

Hold everything. At this point in his life, Romney has led and consulted for businesses for 25 years. Yet, he cannot from personal experience think of any women with whom he has worked who might fit into his cabinet. Are women co-workers invisible to him?

Romney continues: "And - and so we - we took a concerted effort to go out and find women who had backgrounds that could be qualified to become members of our cabinet. I went to a number of women's groups and said, 'Can you help us find folks,' and they brought us whole binders full of women.'"

Hold everything. That's not what happened. Romney isn't telling the truth (which at this point shouldn't surprise us at all.) He didn't go to women and ask for their help. They came to him much earlier and dumped it in his lap without Romney ever seeking it.

According to the Boston Phoenix newspaper (10/16/12), "What actually happened was that in 2002 prior to the election, not even knowing yet whether it would be a Republican or a Democratic administration - a bipartisan group of women in Massachusetts formed MassGAP to address the problem of few women in senior leadership positions in state government. . ."

"They did the research and put together the binder full of women qualified for all the different cabinet positions, agency heads, and authorities and commissions. They presented this binder to Governor Romney when he was elected."

Immediately after Romney's  "binder full of
women" comment, the social media went nuts. Within a half hour, a Facebook
page had over 20,000 likes. By the end of the debate that number had risen to
over 70,000.

But that wasn't the end of it. Romney dug his hole deeper when he said that he had provided a flexible schedule for his chief of staff who needed to be able to
get home at 5 o'clock "so that I can be making dinner for my kids and being with them when they get home from school."

Wait a minute. Are cooking and child care a mandatory part of a wife's duties? Since both parents are working, couldn't her husband sometimes be the one to cook dinner and greet the kids after school? The idea of prescribed duties based entirely on sex didn't sit well with women watching the debate.

Romney ended his remarks in response to Crowley's original question with a final
self-destructive statement. He spoke of a "new economy" where employers are "going to be so anxious to get good workers they're going to be anxious to hire women."

Really? When employers get desperate enough, they'll actually consider hiring women? Not the best possible statement to make friends with women.

So, what do we have here? A man, Mitt Romney, whose thinking regarding women in the workplace seems to be stuck in the 1950s. When an important job opens up, women candidates don't come easily to his mind. Even when both parents are working, Romney feels some parenting duties are always the responsibility of the wife. Someone who, I might add, opposed the Lily Ledbetter fair pay act promoting equal pay for women.

Women's job prospects under a Romney administration don't appear particularly bright.