If we say that women should receive an equal amount of pay for an equal amount of work, that will simply open up the legal floodgates.
At least that’s what Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s campaign tells us.
I’m Lt. Governor Rebecca Kleefisch. My dad used to take me to work with him. He told me I could do anything.
That’s why I find it so insulting that Mary Burke would say that we’re trying to make it harder for women to earn equal pay. Under Scott Walker, workplace discrimination will always be illegal, for any reason. Mary Burke wants to create more opportunities to sue. We want to create more opportunities for women to succeed.
It’s cute that Kleefisch’s father took her to work with him and told her that she could do anything, just as many fathers have done generation after generation, but that has nothing to do with equal pay legislation.
The message this ad sends is that, if you haven’t achieved your career goals, it’s a moral failing on your part. Because your father told you could do anything and it hasn’t really worked out that way, has it? Why have you disappointed your father?
It’s also possible that you’re doing what you wanted to do, just as your father said you could, but you’re receiving less pay for it than your male colleagues for no reason other than being a woman. What would your father think of that? Wouldn’t he want you to receive equal pay?
Maybe he wouldn’t. Maybe your father didn’t believe in equal pay and maybe you’re a conservative who doesn’t think others should receive equal pay either because you were raised that way. Maybe your father is an asshole.
Asking for equal pay for equal work is not the same as asking for a handout or an extra opportunity; it’s asking to be treated equally.
There are many highly “successful” women, including CEOs, who do not receive equal pay.
I’m not comfortable with the conservative definition of “success,” hence the quotation. Success means something different to everyone. The point is that women may not receive equal pay even if they have met their own definition of success in their career.