'Binders full of women' and Romney: the presidential debate
Gov. Mitt Romney's reference his "binders full of women" in Tuesday's debate is ripe for parody, but the comment was more bothersome than amusing, Rogers writes.
Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney answers a question during the second US presidential debate in Hempstead, N.Y., Tuesday. Romney's mention of "binders full of women" sent reverberations across the 'twitterverse' and 'blogosphere.'
Lucas Jackson/Reuters
So of course, the world is all “atwitter” about the “binders full of women” comment (in the CNN video; here’s the transcript for reference–just search “binders”).
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'EconomistMom' (Diane Lim Rogers) is Chief Economist of the Concord Coalition, a non-partisan, non-profit organization which advocates for fiscal responsibility, and the mom of four (amazing) kids to whom she dedicates her work. She’s been blogging since Mother’s Day 2008.
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Yes, the visual was ridiculous, and the comedians are going to have a field day with this (beyond the field days ordinary bloggers and tweeters have already had). But the whole exchange bugged me more than amused me. I was bothered by the suggestion that this is how women get hired to high positions: employers have it pointed out to them (even via talking to themselves) that the first-round “qualified” applicants are all men. So they are told to go look for more women–to collect the resumes in “binders”–because they don’t already know these women to be qualified the first time around; they only think those women “could be qualified” in their lookingagain. And they have to become “anxious” enough to hire so many more people such that the women can finally rise over the bar. Well, yukk to all that. I don’t find it so funny, and I hope I am never hired by someone who found me only in a “binder.”
Still, I look forward to the SNL version.
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