DLCC: Mitt Romney puts women in binders; Democrats help elect women to state legislatures

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Mitt Romney puts women in binders; Democrats help elect women to state legislatures

At last night’s Presidential debate, Governor Mitt Romney continued to refuse to answer the question about whether or not he supports legislation guaranteeing that women receive equal pay as men by stating that when he was elected Governor of Massachusetts he demanded a “binder full of women” to fill slots in his cabinet. His comment, understandably, drew cringes--and even a Tumblr account, but it also is the tip of the ice berg of the massive rift in how Democrats and Republicans view the role of women in elected office.

It is not an accident that of the 2,440 women seeking to serve their communities in their state legislature this year 63% are Democrats. It should not be surprising that when Republicans gained control in statehouses, they advanced agendas that went directly counter to the needs of women: rolling back equal pay laws and thus hurting women in their pocket books; passing legislation that could allows employers to fire women for using birth control.

Republicans know they have a problem with women at every level of government. But they are also failing at every attempt to fix it. Republicans tapped the person responsible for Susan G. Komen's disastrous attempt to stop funding Planned Parenthood to recruit 150 Republican women to run for the state legislature. However, only ten candidates showed up to their training. Democrats do not see women as a special interest, but rather as an American interest; that may help explain why women overwhelmingly support Democrats at the polls and why such a huge majority of elected women are Democrats.

Governor Romney wants to make it easier for women to have more time in the kitchen; Democrats, on the contrary, are working to elect more women to the statehouse.