Equal Pay Day Highlights Need for Change

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April 12, 2016 is Equal Pay Day. It's not a holiday that gives you time off from work, but one that gives you the important opportunity to focus on the pay inequities that still exist between men and women. The date symbolizes how far into the year an average women must work to catch up with how much an average man earned in the previous year. This year women will have to work an extra 3 months and 16 days to make the same money as their male counterparts.

For anyone with daughters ... or mothers ... or sisters ... or grandmothers, the time has come to end gender pay inequities, and seriously look at its implications for today and all of our tomorrows. Whether it's paying off student debt as a young to middle age woman, raising children as a single or married mom, or retirement for those who reach that age, the money we as women aren't earning adds up. 

The Equal Pay Act was passed in 1963. In 2015, women in the U.S. working full time still receive the equivalent of 79.6% of men's earnings. Too many employers have been allowed to turn their backs on this historic law : 

No employer having employees subject to any provisions of this section [section 206 of title 29 of the United States Code] shall discriminate, within any establishment in which such employees are employed, between employees on the basis of sex by paying wages to employees in such establishment at a rate less than the rate at which he pays wages to employees of the opposite sex in such establishment for equal work on job.

Pay discrimination has morphed into what is known as the Gender Pay Gap. According to the National Women's Law Center, if we don’t act to change the wage gap, a woman starting out today stands to lose hundreds of thousands of dollars over the course of her career. The Center estimates based on today’s wage gap, women would lose $430,480 over the course of a 40-year career. For African American women, the losses are $877,480. For Hispanic or Latina women, the career losses increase to $1,007,080. The ramifications of these numbers are staggering.

And the Gender Pay Gap ages right along with us. A recent study released by the American Association of University Women (AAUW), shows that while men and women may start off their work years making close to the same money, after women reach 35 the gap begins to increase. Median earnings typically become 76-81 percent of what men are paid. Here's what will surprise many looking for solutions. The study shows that "education is not an effective pay gap solution.” At every level of academic achievement, women's median earnings are shown to be less than men's.

Women. Women. Women.

The last week of March 2016 became the week of women - in politics, sports and science. A unique trifecta was created highlighting women’s issues forty plus years after they should have been settled. Women are a key demographic to win the upcoming presidential election.

We have seen Republican presidential candidates publicly demean and victimize women during this campaign while continuing to strongly oppose a woman’s legal right to choice when it comes abortion. They have made it clear they want to overturn the 1973 landmark Supreme Court ruling, Roe v. Wade, which made abortion legal. This week Donald Trump told us that any woman who seeks an abortion should be subject to “some form of punishment” if the procedure is banned. While he later changed his mind, his initial thinking on punishing women who have abortions is on record.

Trump’s campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, was formally arrested on battery charges for allegedly putting his hands on reporter Michelle Fields as she was trying to ask Trump a question. The candidate continues to defend Lewandowski’s action, at the same time he tells women how much he loves them. He had no qualms posting this on his Twitter account: “No one has more respect for women than Donald Trump.” It's a classic abusive mentality.

Trump’s opponent Ted Cruz is on record voting NO on reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act in 2013. And let's not forget the third candidate in the race for the White House at this point, John Kasich. As Governor of Ohio earlier this year, he signed a bill defunding Planned Parenthood. On the campaign trail he said maternity leave should be left up to employers to "be creative.” Both Cruz and Kasich have said they oppose Trump's position on criminalizing women who have abortions. What a group.

On the issue of equal pay, our country's top five women soccer players finally had enough of being treated unequally, and filed a federal complaint accusing U.S Soccer of wage discrimination. Equal pay for more than equal work does not seem to apply to these soccer players, even though they’ve won three World Cup championships and four Olympic championships. The men's team doesn't come close in athletic comparison, posting a strong losing record. Yet, according to the complaint filed on March 31, the men earn 60% more than the women playing the same game. Who of us doesn't want to encourage any of our interested daughters to play sports today? But not if they're treated unequally. That's what Title IX was all about. We want them to look up and see role models like Billy Jean King who led the fight for women tennis players to be paid equally, enabling current tennis greats like Serena Williams to win over eleven million dollars in tournament play last year. 

The Food and Drug Administration announced a change this week in their guidelines for use of the abortion pill, easing access and saying their action is based on updated medical science. They extended the time in which a woman can take the prescribed pill from seven to ten weeks, and decreased the number of doctor visits for the procedure. The Guttmacher Institute, which tracks women's reproductive health issues, reports that 37% of women obtaining abortions identify as Protestant and 28% identify as Catholic. 

Both the Republican and Democratic parties are aggressively courting women voters. The latest Fox News poll shows that Republicans must win more women voters to succeed. Re-thinking their positions on equal pay, equal opportunity and choice might help. So might showing women greater respect. 

Donald Trump's Media War

Admit it I must. I'm sick and tired of hearing Donald Trump berate and insult almost all journalists because he doesn't like the questions they ask or the stories they report or even how they look. He basically doesn't like reporters or anchors doing their jobs unless they do it his way, and he's increasingly punishing when they don’t. Whether it’s Trump’s Twitter rants, yanked credentials or ordering force to be used whenever he's offended, we are witnessing the Republican presidential campaign frontrunner adding another dangerous game to his repertoire. He is dismissing the importance of freedom of the press and its role as a bedrock of democracy.

Trump is not the first presidential candidate to take issue with reporters, but his words and actions in this campaign are taking things to a whole different level of disdain and disrespect. He’s using a diverse number of platforms to spread his vitriol against the media, and it’s dangerous. Whether it’s campaign rallies, social media, or formal gatherings, Trump continues to portray reporters as the enemy while he encourages violence. You don’t have to agree with every reporter or media outlet, but the job they do is essential to allowing us to form our own opinions in a free society.

Everyone who is tuned in hears Trump’s remarks without the full benefit of understanding of what is taking place. The reality for some reporters recently covering the potential nominee comes to this: they are strategically placed in the back of the room with rows of Trump supporters put in front of them. When the time comes for questions, the media has no choice but to shout their questions across the room, only to have an amazing thing happen. You can barely hear their questions, if you hear them at all. It appears there are no microphones being used to pick up the sound of any reporters seeking to query Trump. If there are, they have been shut off. Once might have been an accident, but I began to notice the lack of sound during questioning a few primaries back. At first I thought it was a technical problem. Then I realized, in all likelihood, it was a problem Trump created just for reporters on the scene so the only thing we could hear were his answers.

All this is coming from a man whose candidacy the media has helped make with its sometimes overwhelming exposure. Trump and reporters are caught in an intricate web of little or no choice. He needs them to fuel his campaign, and they need to cover him because he's running for president of the United States. But Donald Trump's continued abuse of reporters is escalating, and it needs to stop. His media attack playbook has been used in one form or another by autocrats and dictators for generations.

Donald Trump On The Defensive/March 4, 2016

Donald Trump on the defensive is something we're not used to seeing. This past week has shown us how the Republican presidential front runner handles being on the other side of attack mode, and it was not a pretty picture. Trump is no dummy, but the last Republican debate showed a man and his shoot from the hip form of politics being vigorously challenged by his opponents. He was scrambling to defend himself, and it became increasing hard to tell Trump fact from Trump fiction. A chink in his armor began to show. It had to happen at some point with a campaign strategy focused on personality more than substance.

March 3rd was not a good day for the Trump campaign. Former 2012 Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney gave an afternoon address to a conservative audience that opened the doors to a vehement attack on Trump. He called him a "phony and a fraud." The visual and temperamental contrast between the two men was hard to miss, as were Romney's very targeted words. "He's playing members of the American public for suckers," Romney said while continuing to make his thoughts clear "He has neither the temperament nor the judgement to be president."

While we can ask where Romney was months ago with his remarks, the fact remains that they were made yesterday and were not only more scathing than anything heard in the debate, they were more strategic. He publicly encouraged an open Republican convention. Surprising many Romney said, "Given the current delegate selection process, this means that I would vote for Marco Rubio in Florida, John Kasich in Ohio and for Ted Cruz or whichever one of the other two contenders has the best chance of beating Mr. Trump in a given state."

Trump’s response to Romney’s remarks were the type of personal put-downs for which he’s becoming known. He cited Romney's 2012 request for an endorsement saying, "He was begging for my endorsement. I could have said, ‘Mitt, drop to your knees,’ and he would have dropped to his knees."

Republican leaders kept piling on. Senator John McCain, the 2008 Republican presidential nominee, expressed concerns about "Mr. Trump's uninformed and indeed dangerous statements on national security issues."

Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, Romney's former running mate, also used March 3rd to publicly respond to what could only be called a threat made by Donald Trump in his Super Tuesday victory remarks. Trump said that Ryan would "pay a big price" if he didn’t get along with him. Yesterday, without using Trump's name, Ryan told reporters that he “laughed out loud,” after hearing those remarks. Appearing far from intimidated Ryan continued, "I was sitting in my office watching it live, and I just laughed out loud. I think sometimes reality's stranger than fiction around here these days."

March 3, 2016 was not just another day in Republican politics. 

 

Down to the Republican Wire

It's been a fascinating journey from the first Republican debate to the last before Super Tuesday. We have watched the candidate numbers dwindle, the rhetoric become increasingly vitriolic and the public either cheer or scratch their heads. Republican politics have been turned upside down. No one seemed prepared for the unexpected - the staying power of the now frontrunner, Donald Trump.

Being unprepared in politics can bear treacherous consequences. Could the Republican party have been so tone-deaf to its voters in the period leading up to the campaign that they didn't pick up on the strong internal divisions that were forming? Apparently so. They are now paying the price, as is the rest of the country who has been listening.

The rise of Donald Trump's candidacy will be viewed in history books as the result of a period in our country when the split between the haves and have nots finally reached a boiling point. Trump is seizing the moment and capitalizing on the split. He tests his often divisive words and thoughts on the fly while whipping up frenzied crowds that validate his behavior. I believe a part of him is as surprised at his success as many others are, despite all his bravado. 

The Republican debates this year have provided vehicles for the candidates to show too little real political dialogue and too much hit and run word splash. Television has helped turn them into near Roman spectacles drawing millions of viewers, and giving Trump a home TV turf advantage. His reality show persona puts him totally at ease when performing in front of a camera, an audience, or both.

The obvious question now focuses on the future of Trump's candidacy. Last night's debate was the first time his dirty laundry began to be hung out to the public, and he took hits when being attacked. As prepared as he should have been, he sometimes appeared unprepared for a taste of his own medicine dished out by a newly aggressive Senator Marco Rubio.

Rubio took off his mantle of faltering under the heat of Trump’s continual put-downs, and came loaded with information ammunition. The kind that should have come out in the debates and campaign long ago. He went after Trump’s business practices, hiring of illegal immigrants to work on his construction sites, hiring foreigners instead of locals at his Palm Beach resort and the Trump University financial mess. It's all been there without being up for debate - until now.

Trump admitted in the post-debate spin room that his outrageous behavior, although he didn't use that word, has worked for him and gotten him to this point. Republicans have to ask themselves if that is what they want to continue rewarding.

Hillary Must Court Millennials: USA TODAY Column

 

                                      Previously Published in USA TODAY

Marilyn Salenger February 10, 2016

If the New Hampshire Primary isn’t Hillary Clinton’s mega ‘aha’ moment when it comes to her support among women voters, she’s going to face a far greater uphill challenge going forward. Her campaign has been playing off-key to those that she needs the most and those who should be her strongest supporters.

Bernie Sanders won women in New Hampshire by 53% to 46%, and racked up a striking 82% of Democratic women ages 18-29. Clinton’s strongest numbers came from women over 65. Young women vs. older women creates a dynamic and challenging political split. It’s been a surprising twist to some this year, but one that should have been expected.

Many young women I’ve spoken with believe that all of the doors of opportunity are open for them and are very surprised when they hear me say that too many remain closed. Millennial women unfortunately know too little about how hard so many of us worked to break the ground they now walk on. My perspective, and Clinton's, is history to them. They’re more interested in today. Maybe we were that way when we were their age. We just didn’t have political clout.

So how does Clinton create a world that feels shared sisterhood again, or Sisterhood 2.0, in an effort to try and salvage women’s support?

She can start by building bridges of commonality and understanding to young women, and making sure those who support and speak for her stop criticizing them if they choose another candidate. Clinton, of all people, should be the candidate of inclusiveness for women of all ages. That means not only respecting women and their choices, it requires adding more young women to her inner and outer circles.

As a young television news correspondent breaking my own ground, I covered the early days of the women’s movement because I thought it was important and none of the men wanted the assignment. I was living a large part of what the movement was talking about and felt the connection. It’s the kind of personal connection that has been missing in the Clinton campaign. You need to feel it to vote it.

Relatability has become the new likability factor in this political season, and it will play a major role in electing our next president. We want to see strength in our candidates, but when it comes to Clinton we also want to see vulnerability. A double standard? Absolutely, but reality as well. She showed a glimpse of her ability to reach us more personally during the recent televised New Hampshire Town Hall admitting, “This is hard for me. ... I never thought I'd be standing on a stage here asking people to vote for me for president. I always wanted to be of service.” That was Clinton talking with us, not to us, and it was a buy in key moment for many that night. She became relatable, more human. While it may not be instinctive for her, she has to show that side of herself consistently. Especially to young people.

Millennial women and men are feeling the headiness of being recognized as a new political force. They want to be wooed as an important voter demographic and to know that the candidates feel their pain. Sanders’ ability to do just that has been his strength. Clinton’s inability to touch their hearts and souls has been her weakness. To change this pattern going forward, Clinton has to step out of what has been her intellectual comfort zone of knowledge and experience and into a zone that's closer to young people and the issues they care about. That may help bring them to her, even if they don't understand why women like myself feel it is so important to elect the first woman president of the United States in 2016.

Marilyn Salenger, an Emmy-Award-winning news correspondent and anchorwoman, was the first woman hired by CBS for its newsroom in Cincinnati and the first woman to solo anchor a newscast in Boston, Mass. She also co-produced and anchored the first all-women’s television news program in the United States and was the first woman to hold the position of press secretary for a national presidential campaign (Alan Cranston's). Follow her on Twitter @MarilynSalenger. 

Dateline: New Hampshire

If the Hillary Clinton who took the stage at the New Hampshire Town Hall on Wednesday night is the Hillary Clinton we continue to see, she'll be well on her way to winning. What we saw was a woman who was unveiled. More open than can be remembered, more showing of her heart and personal feelings that most have seen. It's what many of her supporters and some undecided voters have been waiting a long time to see.

New Hampshire voters are some of the most well-informed in the country. In my days stumping their snowy hills with candidates, I was absolutely taken with how politically knowledgeable they were, and their Town Hall gathering last night showed that to the rest of the country. They asked questions of both Senator Bernie Sanders and Clinton that in many cases had not been asked by journalists. New Hampshirites asked them respectfully and opened up personally, which in turn opened up the candidates. Rare.

The audience was well spoken with an earnest desire to hear the answers. Whether it was the cancer patient asking Hillary about making end of life issues easier for people - a question she said had never been asked of her before. Or the Rabbi who asked how she handles humility and the ego necessary to run for political office prompting Clinton to respond, "Practice the discipline of gratitude. That has helped me enormously. I've had to be in public dealing with very personal issues." She continued along that personal path ... "My husband was such a natural. This is hard for me. It was about service not standing on stage when I began."

Sanders spoke about how his religious and spiritual feelings impact him. "My spirituality is that we're all in this together." And he brought an ease of humor and style. When asked about electability, "Voter turnout is key."

Addressing a key Clinton campaign issue focusing on why young women don't seem to be rallying to her support, she told Anderson Cooper, "I accept the fact that I have work to do to convey what I want to do. Whether they're for me or not, I'm for them." But it was the mother of five daughters in their 20’s who brought the issue home. "How can I get them to vote for you?" Clinton's response started slowly, talking about helping the young women learn about her record. Then she broke loose. "I'm going to try hard to break the hardest and strongest glass ceiling there is. I hope it will open doors for them." 

That's what electing the first female president has the potential to do. The New Hampshire Town Hall has now maximized its own potential as a role model for helping us substantively learn more about the candidates running for president of the United States.

Religion and Politics 2016

Religion and politics are playing an increasingly prominent role in the 2016 presidential race in ways unique to the times. Evangelical voters are being aggressively and very publicly courted by Republican candidates, and Democrats have the potential to elect the first Jewish President. If Bernie Sanders defeats Hillary Clinton in either the Iowa or New Hampshire primaries, that alone would make him the first Jewish candidate to win a primary contest in either party. 

Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and even Donald Trump have been promoting their religious beliefs as if they are part of their political platforms. In the last Republican debate, Rubio and Cruz appeared to be going head to head on who was the most religious. Sanders, on the other hand, talks little about his faith. Clinton sometimes discusses it. 

Half of all Americans, according to a recent Pew Research Center survey, say religious conservatives exert too much control over the Republican Party, while slightly fewer say secular liberals have too much control over the Democratic party. The study also found that two-thirds of Republicans want a president who shares their religious beliefs compared to less than half the Democrats. Religion has become part of the partisan political divide with sometimes ominous implications for the future. 

Given the current environment, one is led to ask in what ways and to what degree, if any, will the next president use his or her faith as a basis to push their agenda? Among all else, the judicial system stands to be significantly affected. The next President will appoint one or more Supreme Court Justices and many lower court judges. Roe v. Wade, the landmark decision making abortion safe and legal, hangs with the balance of the Supreme Court as lower courts are aggressively trying to chip away at the ruling.

For many, faith is a private matter. But today, privacy is becoming a thing of the past. A presidential candidate's faith has always been formally known, but I don't recall President Dwight Eisenhower's religion. It was not an issue. That was left for his successor to deal with in 1960. President John F. Kennedy's Catholic faith became a significant factor in his electability with questions about whether he would take direction from the Vatican. Kennedy chose not to campaign on issues of his faith, and went on to become the country's first Catholic President defeating Richard Nixon who was a Quaker.

It’s clear in 2016 the separation between church and state is becoming even more blurred.

It's Sarah and Donald Time

Photo by Alex Hanson/CC BY-2.0

Sarah Palin's rousing public endorsement of Donald Trump at an Iowa rally puts together quite a team as Trump continues his path to a Republican presidential nomination. Two people who love the hugeness of the limelight without the factual specifics that previously mattered in politics are now standing side by side. 

The 2008 vice presidential candidate and former Alaska governor seemed almost euphoric as she was once again able to share being front and center on a big political public stage. Palin delivered what could be considered a mock convention nominating speech, as if it was a rip-roaring right-wing conservative talk show. She’s got the formula down pat. Trump stood next to her looking pleased, but slightly uncomfortable. He never once looked at Palin as she spoke, instead listening and assessing the crowd's response. 

Palin has chosen to turn her back on Senator John McCain, the man who first put her in the spotlight as his vice presidential running mate in 2008. While he remained loyal to her, she’s cast loyalty to the wind instead endorsing the man who has attacked McCain. Trump has refused to call the former prisoner of war a hero saying, “I like people that weren’t captured.”

This says as much about Palin as it does about Trump. For him it's all about winning. Perhaps much more so than any good he could do as president. While winning an election is what it's all about for any politician, with Trump it's more than part of the endgame. It's the beginning, the middle and the end.

He is the consummate construction tycoon who will do almost anything to make a deal and feed an insatiable ego. There's a continual bit of falseness that hangs over a substantial part of his candidacy. It leaves one to wonder if he really believes what he's saying, or is he just saying it to appeal to his target audience. In some ways he reminds me of J.R. Ewing, that infamous and devious oil tycoon of the popular television show Dallas. Trump going after Palin's endorsement fits into that entire scenario.

Palin swings Trump all the way to the right politically. It's a marriage made in the anti-establishment part of the Republican party that is salivating over the outrageousness of Trump. They love it. In Palin’s endorsement speech, she spun Trump almost better than he can spin himself. Facts be damned. 

Trump according to Palin:

"He's from the private sector not a politician. Hallelujah." She must have forgotten that she's a politician herself.

"He's a billionaire who is not elitist." Is there anyone who knows Trump who would call him a man of the people? " 

He's a self-made man." she told the audience, leaving out the fact that he began his career with a HUGE amount of help from his wealthy father.

"He's a strict constitutionalist." Now there's one to get us thinking.

Trump's son Eric later called Palin "refreshing," and a " fighter like my dad." But he too appeared slightly uncomfortable in the Palin aura. The young Trump said she had gotten to know his family during a visit with them in New York City. One can just imagine a down-home dinner table setting in Trump Tower as they discussed her position in a potential Trump White House.  

Wake Up America!

Donald Trump has once again created a new reality show. This time no apprentice is needed because it’s all about himself. He can say whatever he wants. Do whatever he wants. And his rules call for no penalties. Trump doesn't believe he should accept any. It's a very well thought out production.

Trump's show, however, is creating serious problems that are too often aimed at bringing out the worst in people. That's what happens when a production is based upon negativity.

With near total abandon, Trump throws his racial, religious, gender and personal slurs around in a stream of consciousness that doesn't stop. The fact that it's riling up hatred and prejudice that have serious consequences seems to be almost beside the point. He does it with a strong attempt at righteous arrogance, and no apparent concern for those consequences. With Trump it's all about winning - no matter the cost.

In France, Trump could potentially be prosecuted for hate speech. Germany is trying to clamp down on incendiary speech in their country, and the UK is talking about banning Trump for allegedly violating their hate speech laws. Three of our closest allies understand consequences. It’s becoming increasingly clear that Trump does not.

Is this really what we want to see in the next leader of the Free World? 

And yet we continue to watch this man find new ways to play dangerous games with people's thinking, carelessly but carefully whipping them up as he goes along. It's one thing to disagree with an opponent’s position, but it’s another to stir up hate. Trump’s reality show needs a serious course correction.