In the Senate, Obama and Joe Biden were co-sponsors of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which purported to make it easier for women to sue employers for discriminatory pay differences by changing the timing requirements. On the campaign trail, Obama and his surrogates highlight the equal pay issue. In his acceptance speech in Denver, Obama said, “And now is the time to keep the promise of equal pay for an equal day’s work, because I want my daughters to have exactly the same opportunities as your sons.” On Obama’s campaign website under the headline, “Fighting for Pay Equity,” his position statement reads, “Despite decades of progress, women still make only 77 cents for every dollar a man makes.”
The 1963 Equal Pay Act prohibits wage differentials based on sex. Obama, however, is still promoting the idea that women are not paid the same as men because of discrimination. What is he really talking about? While he prefers to talk in generalities instead of specifics as to how he will achieve equal pay, he seems to be advocating “comparable worth,” a means to achieve pay equity by requiring employers to pay people in jobs “comparable” to each other the same. For example, a coal miner, a job traditionally fulfilled by men, might be judged “comparable” to a secretary, a job traditionally fulfilled by women, so employers would have to pay people in these jobs equal wages. Advocates for “comparable worth” lost the battle because of the feared consequences of trying to compare jobs. As a result, Obama is pursuing his quest for “comparable worth” under a different label, equal pay. He even cosponsored the Fair Pay Act, which refers to “equivalent jobs.”
The issue of equal pay has risen and fallen in popularity since the 1960s. Obama has again put the issue in the spotlight and is using it to try to win over women voters. We will see on November 4th if Obama’s call for equal pay and the comparable worth solution he advocates will motivate women to cast their vote for him.