This week is a true cause for celebration: the 19th Amendment was formally adopted into the U.S. Constitution 94 years ago, which granted women the right to vote. I am so thankful to live in a country that acknowledges the very firm, intelligent, and active voice and contributions of women.
In an effort to pander, President Obama offered platitudes in recognition of this wonderful anniversary. The shame is that while he’s offering these gestures, his policies are failing women across the board.
“[W]omen are succeeding like never before. Their contributions are growing our economy and advancing our nation,” reads a statement from the President. He did concede that, “the dreams of too many mothers and daughters continue to be deferred and denied.”
“There is still some more work to do,” Obama concluded.
He should know.
While many women are undeniably successful, the overall outlook for women in America is bleak. The policies of the Obama administration have set women back perhaps more than any president in the modern era. We women need to look the president in the eye and call his remarks what they are: a hollow gesture from a failed president.
Barack Obama has been president for six years. For two of those years his party held both houses of Congress and it still controls the Senate today. He could have enacted more policies to help women. Instead, the hill women have to climb continues to get steeper and steeper.
Women are among the hardest hit by Obamacare premium hikes, especially those 64 and older. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 55.3 million women have left the workforce since Obama took office; a quarter million since May of this year alone. The number of women living in poverty in America is at its highest point in our history.
Yes, Mr. President, there is still more work to do.
The President has also congratulated himself on action he’s taken or positions he holds on healthcare and equal pay. Consider the numbers I just cited then read our out-of-touch president’s rhetoric and try not to roll your eyes.
Paycheck inequality is a genuine concern but not for the reasons the president often cites. Instead, the primary roadblock to pay equity in America is a seniority system that rewards tenure rather than performance. Unfortunately, women are often the last hired and the first fired. That means high-performing women fall victim to a system that favors time in grade. Women compete quite effectively with their male counterparts in a merit pay environment.
Who protects the seniority system? Obama’s allies among Big Labor bosses and within the Big Government bureaucracy.
Nevertheless, Democrats still tell women across the country they are the only choice they have on Election Day. They say Republicans are “waging a war on women” and they use smoke and mirrors nonsense to imply Republicans are denying access to contraception.
The anniversary of the 19th Amendment being formally adopted into the U.S. Constitution is something to be celebrated by everyone in America. President Obama and his party will learn just how fiercely we as women exercise the right it guarantees and protects this November.
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