It was a welcome moment in the second presidential debate, held October 16, 2012, at Hofstra University, when one of the town hall participants asked a question about pay equity. The first debate, after all, had ignored all women's issues, despite the fact that such issues have been at the center of several national political controversies and reveal stark ideological and practical differences between the two candidates for president, Mitt Romney and Barack Obama. And, of course, it is no secret that women comprise well more than half the electorate and an even greater proportion of the much sought-after “swing” and “undecided” voters.

At Hofstra, Katherine Fenton directed her question at President Barack Obama. “In what new ways,” she asked, “do you intend to rectify the inequalities in the workplace, specifically regarding females making only 72 percent of what their male counterparts earn?”

This was something of a softball for Obama, who has an excellent record on women's issues and on pay equity in particular. The very first bill he signed as president was the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act (discussed in Chapter 49), which restored the protection to victims of pay discrimination that had been gutted by the Supreme Court in its 2007 ruling in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. And Obama's health care reform law contains many provisions designed to ensure that women have access to essential medical care such as mammograms, Pap smears, and contraception.

The interesting part of this segment of the debate began when Romney opened his mouth. In his nonanswer answer, Romney revealed that he fundamentally does not understand – or care about – issues like pay inequity that face women in the workplace. And his efforts to suggest that he does were ill informed, irrelevant, and, in some cases, downright offensive.

“BINDERS FULL OF – OF WOMEN”

To Candy Crowley's lead-in, “Governor Romney, pay equity for women,” Romney responded with praise for the “important topic,” one that he “learned a great deal about” as governor. His learning came when trying to “pull together a Cabinet and all the applicants seemed to be men.” “Well, gosh,” he said to his staff, “can't we – can't we find some – some women that are also qualified?” Enter the binders full of women.