Binders. Binders full of Women.
Those back-in-the-day ubiquitous office supply designed to collect and make sense of reams of hard copy data.
That’s what we’re talking about on a week in October 2012.
That, and essentially what a man running for president in the second decade of the 21st century thinks about women in the workforce. After a 40-year career in business and politics, if you don’t personally have any women in your network fit for a job you ask for (and apparently receive) “binders full of women” you can flip through to find the token one or two to hire.
In response to a question on gender pay inequality in Tuesday night’s presidential debate, Mitt Romney said that when he was assembling his cabinet after being elected governor in Massachusetts, he questioned his staff for sending him only male applicants and was told those were all who were qualified.
To which Romney said live, on national TV, “I went to a number of women’s groups and said, ‘Can you help us find folks,’ and they brought us binders full of women.”
And of course, here in the second decade of the 21st century, Twitter exploded. The hashtag #binders was born, followed by a meme frenzy launched on Facebook that, three days later, is still going strong.
Mitt Romney’s backdated office supply of choice (we’re sure President Obama at least uses Excel spreadsheets) aligns pretty closely with his views on women. We still don’t (and never will) measure up to the boys in the workforce.
Ladies (and those who love us), we think you know what to do on election day. But, if you’re still undecided, this very clever hack job on Amazon.com may be of assistance. Tens of thousands of Americans have taken to the binder product review section of our number one online shopping site. A sample:
Wow, this binder has really changed my life. Before I was always trying to fit into the corporate world. I wanted things like equal pay, safety from sexual harassment and the right to have health care coverage for birth control. But after purchasing this binder I feel totally put in my place.
As a woman, I’m not adept at making decisions that concern me. So when I need the right choice, I turn to the presidential candidate that KNOWS. One with prideful experience in this department. I don’t want to be filed away in an inferior & confusing electronic doohickey that I couldn’t possibly understand. Or heaven forbid, have a man ask for & listen to my ideas! I’d much rather rely on this top of the line, 1980s style, Avery Durable binder.
Maybe it’s just my women, but they don’t seem to want to fit into the space I’ve designated for them in this binder. They keep sticking out over the edges, even getting away in some cases. I thought using clear, glass-ceiling page protectors would help, but it doesn’t seem to slow them down anymore.
Sources: Amazon.com, CNN Politics: Political Tracker: Internet Goes Wild over Binders Full of Women.”
Photo courtesy: The Daily Beast.
Kathy Drasky regularly writes about online culture. Her marketing and communications work with the ANZA Technology Network, Advance Global Australians and with various Australians and Australian enterprises has led to at least a dozen trips Down Under.
An accomplished digital photographer, her photos have appeared in 7×7 Magazine, the San Francisco Chronicle and Google Schmap.
