Barack Obama's Failure to Appoint More Women to His Government Is Blunder
By John Aloysius Farrell, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
I've never been a quota kind of guy. Big organizations are soul-deadening even in the best of straits. Compulsory race and gender scales can make a workplace downright poisonous.
And so, as my Thomas Jefferson Street colleague Bonnie has raged these past few weeks about the lack of female faces in the top ranks of the incoming administration, I was tempted to pick a fight with her. Diversity, thy name is Obama, I thought. Give him time. Hey, wasn't Hillary named secretary of state?
Wisely, I held off. Because when the final round of cabinet appointees was announced on Friday and we got a look at the whole lineup, I had to say, Bonnie was right.
Five women in the 22 top positions of government? This is the best the Democrats can do? For what, arguably, is their most important constituency?
Gimme a break. What a blunder.
I hope Obama's team has been vetting female legal scholars. By shortchanging gals in the executive branch, he's just ratcheted up the pressure to name a woman—maybe two or three women—to the U.S. Supreme Court.
- Read more by John Aloysius Farrell.
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- Read more by Bonnie Erbe.
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- Read more about the Obama transition.
- Read more about working women.
- Read more about feminism.
Tags: Barack Obama | working women | feminism | Obama administration | Obama transition
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Reader Comments
Stop whining about Obama not hiring enough women
For people complaining about who Obama hires/appoints and doesn't hire or appoint:
The women who are complaining about Obama not appointing more women or creating "women's jobs" -- can you HEAR yourselves? You're doing more damage to our own cause than Obama ever will. Since when do women's rights activists engage in labeling jobs "women's jobs" and "men's jobs?" I'm laughing so hard on this one -- you're rocketing us directly back to the 50's!
Obama is deciding which JOBS are NEEDED NOW to help the COUNTRY. He's not deciding which JOBS would hire the most women, men, blacks, whites, gays, or straights. If it happens that the priority at the MOMENT is safety on roads and bridges, I don't think Obama gives a rat's ass about whether a woman or man fills the job -- as long as they're well qualified and we can ALL be safe. If more women want to go for those jobs, then go for it! He'll probably hire you!
If I decide to be an artist despite the fact that not many artists are in high demand these days, I'm not going to blame the employers (or the President) for not choosing me "because I'm a woman." I'm going to look around for a more marketable job or keep what I love and shut up!
My god, ladies, get over yourselves. There's been enough partisanship over the decades between black v. white, women v. men, gay v. straight, democrats v. republicans. This is the first time in a long time that our President actually makes decisions WITHOUT trying to fill quotas but on what the COUNTRY needs at the moment.
You remind me of my kids. You're so busy measuring "fairness" that you're ignoring the big picture: the COMMON GOOD. I have no doubt that when Obama turns to professions that you call "women's jobs," I'm guessing there won't be men complaining that he's favoring women.
Stop damanging our reputation as intelligent and capable human beings by interpreting every decision Obama makes as "female friendly" or "male friendly." Please.
You sound like my children: they look at numbers rather than what makes sense. If one kid needs a pair of shoes, I buy them. I don't buy them for the other kid if they don't need them.
Big Apple has a point, but its deeper than just an abortion issue
The reality is that the Obama government lacks the most important diversity that a government needs in order to govern well--and that is diversity of thought! These people are all educated in the same block of colleges, members of the same social elite, and proscribe to a certain paradigm that is based in the elitism of New England. And yes, I went to one of those elite schools and I know the indoctrination. Very few escape--and certain even fewer who stay on the East Coast and work in the worlds of finance and government. By reaching to incorporate more women, Obama could have broaden the intellectual base as well--and allowed for more true diversity of thought. That is what our government really needs.
Diversity My Foot!
The Obama cabinet & other high-level appointees are quite homogeneous in their radical pro-abortion views.
There is no diversity of views.
Obama does not have the courage to appoint pro-lifers into leadership positions.
Obama is in the hip pocket of the pro-abortion lobby. The puppet pulled by strings; pay-back time is here after the elections. Just follow the campaign money trail.
So much for independent thinking & diversity. Same old, same old.
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