Clinton Urges Women To Fight for Fair Pay
Senator Clinton is urging young women to fight for themselves in the workplace and learn to negotiate for fair pay.
Brynne Shaw, The Plain Dealer/AP
Senator Clinton speaks at the Lorain Community College in Elyria, Ohio yesterday.
Pay equity "is not your mother's problem," she said yesterday at the all-women's Barnard College.
Standing behind a sign reading "Fair Pay for Working Women," Mrs. Clinton discussed a new report about pay inequity for American women, which found that the Bush administration failed to properly enforce laws regarding pay disparities according to gender.
According to the New York Women's Foundation, women earn 78 cents to the dollar that men earn. African-American women are worse off, earning 66 cents to the dollar.
The report was requested by Mrs. Clinton and Rep. Carolyn Maloney and put together by the Government Accountability Office. Mrs. Clinton said the report is a "ringing indictment of the Bush administration" and criticized the president for being "silent on this issue."
She said that while pay equity is "critical," even more basic is just having a job.
Senator Obama supports legislation that would grant women a longer period of time to file complaints about pay disparity in order to collect fair compensation. Senator McCain opposes such legislation. Mrs. Clinton said the issue of pay equity is an area where the two candidates differ dramatically.
Barnard administrators at the event alluded to the attention Governor Palin is receiving for juggling family and work, but in a swipe at the vice presidential candidate, the dean of Barnard College, Dorothy Denburg, told The New York Sun: "The crux issue for feminism is actually pay equity."
