Former governor of Massachusetts Mitt Romney mentioned a "binder full of women" when questioned on his policy on equal pay for women at last night's presidential debates at Hofstra University in New York.
The term has sparked a number of responses particularly on social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr. A Facebook page called "Binder Full of Women" was soon created on the social media site.
An article by the Guardian.Co.Uk explains the gist of the problem with the phrase, "Why did the phrase resonate? Because it was tone deaf, condescending and out of touch with the actual economic issues that women are so bothered about. The phrase objectified and dehumanized women. It played right into the perception that so many women have feared about a Romney administration - that a president Romney would be sexist and set women back."
In an interview with CBS Morning News, both the vice presidential candidates Paul Ryan (Running on the Romney ticket) and Joe Biden (Obama ticket) provide their takes on the ill-framed phrase.
Biden tells CBS "the idea that he had to go to ask for help to find qualified women with so many qualified women walking around every place in this country...I didn't quite understand what he was talking about...they (qualified women) are in abundance."
Ryan said that the comments were misunderstood and instead shows Romney's willingness to go the extra mile to hire women for important executive positions. "all it (the comment) simply meant was that he went out of his way to recruit qualified women to serve in his administration when he was governor, that's all he really meant...and by the way he has an exceptionally strong record of hiring women in extremely important positions in his administration," according to CBS News.
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