I recently read a report on the Huffington Post detailing remarks made by Rep. Todd Akin (R-Mo.) — yes, that http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Todd_Akin_'legitimate_rape'_and_pregnancy_comment_controversy Todd Akin — regarding pay equity. It seems the congressman (and prospective senator) didn’t get enough of the hot seat from his previous controversial statements about women.
This time, speaking at a town hall meeting last week, Akin responded to a question about the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. The law, the first signed by President Obama, makes it easier for women to challenge pay inequity http://ebn.benefitnews.com/news/the-oscars-and-overcoming-the-pay-gap-2683282-1.html in court.
Akin, who voted against the law, said his decision was more about freedom than fairness.
"I believe in free enterprise,” Akin said, according to HuffPo’s report. “I don't think the government should be telling people what you pay and what you don't pay. I think it's about freedom. If somebody wants to hire somebody and they agree on a salary, that's fine, however it wants to work. So, the government sticking its nose into all kinds of things has gotten us into huge trouble.”
Wait … WHAT?!
Did he really say that gender discrimination and leaving the yawning pay gap in place is a matter of “freedom?” I’ve heard freedom invoked over some questionable things before, but this one’s a whopper.
I showed the report to my husband, certain he’d be as outraged as I was. He was not, and in fact opted to play “devil’s advocate” on the issue. I told him he was free to, but to know that whatever he said would end up in this blog post.
Brave man that he is, he continued on thusly:
“I’m a business owner, and I hire you and Sean — with equal skills and experience — to do the same work. But it’s pretty likely that at some point, you’re going to take three months off to have a baby. Isn’t it fair that I should be free to pay you less than Sean to make up the profit loss I’ll have to take when you go on maternity leave?”
I responded that, statistically speaking, it was more likely that Sean would take disability leave for an untimely accident than my maternity leave. And that speaking of untimely accidents, he might want to watch it making caveman-headed arguments like that.
Still, I put the issue to you: Is fair pay (or unfair pay, as the case may be) a matter of employer freedom that trumps the moral issue of equal pay for equal work? Share your thoughts in the comments.
I recently read a report on the Huffington Post detailing remarks made by Rep. Todd Akin (R-Mo.) — yes, that Todd Akin — regarding pay equity. It seems the congressman (and prospective senator) didn’t get enough of the hot seat from his previous controversial statements about women.
This time, speaking at a town hall meeting last week, Akin responded to a question about the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. The law, the first signed by President Obama, makes it easier for women to challenge pay inequity in court.
Akin, who voted against the law, said his decision was more about freedom than fairness.
"I believe in free enterprise,” Akin said, according to HuffPo’s report. “I don't think the government should be telling people what you pay and what you don't pay. I think it's about freedom. If somebody wants to hire somebody and they agree on a salary, that's fine, however it wants to work. So, the government sticking its nose into all kinds of things has gotten us into huge trouble.”
Wait … WHAT?!
Did he really say that gender discrimination and leaving the yawning pay gap in place is a matter of “freedom?” I’ve heard freedom invoked over some questionable things before, but this one’s a whopper.
I showed the report to my husband, certain he’d be as outraged as I was. He was not, and in fact opted to play “devil’s advocate” on the issue. I told him he was free to, but to know that whatever he said would end up in this blog post.
Brave man that he is, he continued on thusly:
“I’m a business owner, and I hire you and Sean — with equal skills and experience — to do the same work. But it’s pretty likely that at some point, you’re going to take three months off to have a baby. Isn’t it fair that I should be free to pay you less than Sean to make up the profit loss I’ll have to take when you go on maternity leave?”
I responded that, statistically speaking, it was more likely that Sean would take disability leave for an untimely accident than my maternity leave. And that speaking of untimely accidents, he might want to watch it making caveman-headed arguments like that.
Still, I put the issue to you: Is fair pay (or unfair pay, as the case may be) a matter of employer freedom that trumps the moral issue of equal pay for equal work? Share your thoughts in the comments.
