Girls Don't Just Want To Have Fun

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Thursday July 10, 2008 · 6:09 AM PDT

2008/07/10 · 06:09

Today Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton attend a joint breakfast event. You can watch it live here. http://www.cnn.com/...

While pundits are focused on bs issues like who is not speaking to whom and what someone said that they should not have said, Barack and Hillary are working to bring people back to the issues. The issue of the day is equal pay for equal work.

The great twist that Obama will say in his speech today I found interesting. He talks about how middle class men would benefit if their wives or significant others where paid equally. His pragmatism makes one view issues in such a different light. What he has to say, I feel is an intriguing way of looking at the equal pay issue. By linking the issue to a middle class household issue, everyone who is impacted by the income of a woman can see the urgency of equal pay.

But let’s be clear: these issues – equal pay, work/family balance, childcare – these are by no means just women’s issues. When a job doesn’t offer family leave, that also hurts men who want to help care for a new baby or an ailing parent. When there’s no affordable childcare or afterschool programs, that hurts children who wind up in second rate care, or spending afternoons alone in front of the TV.

snip

We take it for granted that women are the backbone of our families, but we too often ignore the fact that women are also the backbone of our middle class. And we won’t truly have an economy that puts the needs of the middle class first until we ensure that when it comes to pay and benefits at work, women are treated like the equal partners they are.

As the son, grandson and husband of hard-working mothers, I don’t accept an America that makes women choose between their kids and their careers. It’s unacceptable that women are denied jobs or promotions because they’ve got kids at home. It’s unacceptable that 22 million working women don’t have a single paid sick day. It’s unacceptable that millions of working mothers could actually be fired for taking maternity leave – and that 78 percent of workers who have family leave can’t afford to take it because it’s not paid.

http://thepage.time.com/...

Equal pay is everyone's issue and I am glad Obama has pointed this out today.

Poll
26 votes Show Results
Would you like your significant other to make more money?

Yes

No

I have enough money for both of us

26 votes Vote Now!
Would you like your significant other to make more money?

Yes

24 votes

No

0%

0 votes

I have enough money for both of us

8%

2 votes

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