- Rep. Todd Akin, the Republican’s gift that keeps on giving, has now bungled comments about equal pay and why he voted against the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. (You can read my 2010 interview with Ledbetter here to learn more about it.) Akin was asked by an audience member — a man, actually! — at a town hall meeting, “You voted against the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. Why do you think it is okay for a woman to be paid less for doing the same work as a man?” His response didn’t actually answer the question (no surprise there) but at least he didn’t blame it on women this time:
“Well, first of all, the premise of your question is that I’m making that particular distinction. I believe in free enterprise. I don’t think the government should be telling people what you pay and what you don’t pay. I think it’s about freedom. If someone wants to hire somebody and they agree on a salary, that’s fine, however it wants to work. So, the government sticking its nose into all kinds of things has gotten us into huge trouble.”
You see, he wants the freedom to discriminate in pay if he thinks women deserve to be paid less than men. It’s not about sexism at all! It’s just about liberty. [Marie Claire]
