Gender equity stalled by filibuster

Republican senators successfully filibustered the Paycheck Fairness Act (which the House passed in summer 2008), which was intended to facilitate implementation of the Equal Pay Act of 1963. The text of the failed act revises several pieces of legislation and requires departments to collect information on wage discrepancies by gender, provide negotiation training for women, and create grants for organizations who work to reduce said discrepancies. Opponents of the act claim the act unreasonably burdens businesses because the EPA allows for punishment without proof of intention. Some claim the so-called wage gap does not even exist to a problematic extent; the Boston Globe, usually liberal, printed an article suggesting the wage gap is actually occurring in reverse in some groups. Proponents insist the wage gap persists in general and that this Paycheck Fairness Act is the next logical step towards equality. President Obama, who supports the act, met with feminist leaders after the filibuster. Ellie Smeal, President of the Feminist Majority Foundation, claims this filibuster proves that people “can no longer say there are moderate Republican senators;” this quote proves that Americans can see Duverger’s Law in action. Granted, Smeal is predisposed to consider opponents to the act ultra-conservative; yet in a multimember proportional election system, a third party might have held enough power to work with Democrats and break the filibuster.

The act’s failure also shows how Madison et al. successfully separated powers among and within branches and thus made passing a law extraordinarily difficult.

Although the political gender gap is not necessarily based on gender-specific issues, the wage gap could contribute to financially precarious situations that push women to vote Democrat. During midterms, women still voted Democrat more frequently than men. Yet even without the new Republican senators in their seats, the window of opportunity for this act has already closed. Through the lens of Kingdon’s stream theory, the bill’s death implies that the wage gap is considered a condition rather than a problem and thus does not merit a law lessening it. And without a window open enough for passage, it seems the Paycheck Fairness Act is “just a bill; [it is] only a bill,” and it is getting no further on Capitol Hill.