Binders Full of Women? I Don’t Think So

Here at ChicaLogic®, we’re all women. Strong women. Our goals are to empower women in technology, and to help women everywhere embrace their own chica power each and every day. So we almost fell off our chairs and spilled our martinis during last Tuesday’s presidential debate when we heard women referred to in the most appalling fashion.

Certainly you would never guess it’s the year 2012 by the topics that keep popping up over recent months– women are still not receiving equal pay for equal work, and we’re still being told what do with our own bodies, whether it’s about contraceptive use or abortion rights. Even some yahoo in Missouri is trying to tell us that women’s bodies have the power during a rape to keep themselves from getting pregnant. This is not only completely medically wrong but also unbelievably preposterous. Still nothing really got us completely fired up until Romney was asked about gender equality in the workplace:

“I had the 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.’ And I said, ‘Well, gosh, can’t we — can’t we find some — some women that are also qualified?’ 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.”

Of course, what really got some of us even further riled was Romney’s concept of the importance of flex time. You know, so women can rush home to cook dinner for their families.

When women are permitted to be treated as inferior beings by those in power, it not only hurts women, but it also teaches everyone that it is okay. That it’s true. And these hateful ideologies trickle down to the ears of our daughters, while they are just beginning to form opinions of themselves and the world around them. It’s just not okay.

That one “binder” quote tells me how Romney feels about women. It is as if he is humoring us – let’s let the little ladies work a bit, and won’t that make them feel good about themselves? They can make a little money (not too much!) but let’s not get carried away now. They still need to do their usual duties – like taking care of the kiddos and their husbands of course.

Women can, and do everything men do – and we do so all the time. We should not be facing the same battles over and over and over again for equality. This quote from Obama sums it up best:

“We know we are better off when women are treated fairly and equally in all aspects of American life. Whether it’s the salary you earn, or the health decisions you make”.

I could not have said it better myself. Don’t let anyone put you in a binder.