Today there is an ongoing flap about the consideration of Kim Gandy, President of the National Organization for Women (NOW) , for Directorship of the Women’s Bureau in the U.S. Department of Labor. If you recall, NOW endorsed the all-male ticket of Obama and Biden in the general election.  Some question her motives and believe it was a type of “pay for play”.

In just about every field there is a corner reserved for women where the pay and prestige are lower even though the work is equally demanding.

Think about it.

As Imdiversity.com points out, “….the medical profession provides a case study in the opportunities and problems for women in general. Most women doctors are in the so-called nurturing fields — pediatrics, family doctors, obstetrics and gynecology. Few are in the more prestigious and highly compensated fields such as neurosurgery or heart surgery. Women remain a distinct minority on medical-school faculties, and there are precious few female deans.”

In fact, when women begin to be the majority in a field, the pay goes down.

Melanie Perry reports she “was wondering during a recent salary survey of Design professionals that I did that Training, Marketing, Landscape Architecture and Interior Design were among some of the lower-paying fields when they obviously require such skills… then it occurs to me… those are the fields with some of the highest percentages of women in them.”

So, my question is, What is it that the Women’s Bureau is doing for us? They’ve had a long time to do it, so why are women still only earning 78 cents on the dollar for men?  Why is it that Federal law requires that certified women-owned businesses receive at least 5% of all Federal contracts, but less than 3.2% of all contracts are awarded to women.

Yes, Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter act but are individual women going to have to sue huge, rich conglomerates to get fair pay?

I have to wonder if the Women’s Bureau itself is a Pink Ghetto?  Is it like the Bureau of Indian Affairs, there to babysit us and hold our hand and see that we don’t get off the reservation?  Or, if we do, we don’t get into too much trouble?

If women are going to be marginalized couldn’t they at least give us our own plot of land so we could build a casino and make some real money? ( I’m kidding.)

Long ago many women decided the only way to get a fair break was to start their own business, which women have increasingly done and are making almost $2 trillion doing it.

But we shouldn’t have to jump out of the labor market to make equal pay.  And that, it seems, should be the base line expectation for the Women’s Bureau. Whoever is appointed to lead the Women’s Bureau we should hold her feet to the fire until she accomplishs that one goal.