Civil Rights

In this modern era of information technology, one of President Obama's major "changes" is providing the American people with "transparency" in our government.

In order for all of us to keep up with how well he's keeping his campaign promises, the OMB website has a link to the President's agenda. This agenda is the President's list of things he wants to do while he is in office.

The first issue on President Obama's to do list is Civil Rights.

In his first 100 days in office, the President believes he made progress in the civil rights arena by signing the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. This "act" is said to restore "basic protections against pay discrimination for women and other workers."

I found that interesting. In the first place, as a woman, I didn't know my basic protections needed to be restored. That would imply that at one time women apparently had these protections and then used them or damaged them in some way that they needed to be put back to their original condition.

I appreciate the President looking out for me, and I understand his drive to accomplish as much as he can in his limited time in office, but I'm not sure he did women any favors. The current job market is tough. I know people who are less concerned with pay discrimination than they are with finding a job that will keep their electricity turned on.

Minimum wage jobs look more attractive when they're about the only jobs available. Doesn't minimum wage already apply to everybody? (except migrant farm workers, of course). With so many employers going out of business these days, are there really so many women on the upper rungs of the corporate ladder, that they need Lilly Ledbetter?

Here's the kicker. For decades women have been waging a campaign for equal rights. To legally bind an employer, in the current job market, to pay a woman the same as he does a man, takes away one small edge women have in finding jobs. Good luck single moms, the job market just got tougher for you.


I think I'll keep an eye on President Obama's civil rights agenda and see what he does in the second 100 days. He intends to give the Justice Department more money to protect voting rights,and fight discriminaton in his 2010 budget. He also seems to be in favor of "Gay Rights" so he might "restore" something they don't know they've lost. That could be interesting. We shall see.

Copyright © 2009 Annette Fortunato

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