Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) said on Sunday that women “don’t want” equal pay laws.
In a panel on NBC’s “Meet The Press” discussing new statistics showing women are increasingly the primary breadwinners in American families, David Axelrod asked Blackburn if she would support workplace gender equality legislation. The Tennessee representative responded by insinuating that such legislation would be condescending to a woman already qualified for a position on the basis of her skills alone.
“You know, I’ve always said that I didn’t want to be given a job because I was a female, I wanted it because I was the most well-qualified person for the job,” Blackburn said. “And making certain that companies are going to move forward in that vein, that is what women want. They don’t want the decisions made in Washington. They want to be able to have the power and the control and the ability to make those decisions for themselves.”
Blackburn has consistently opposed equal pay measures in the House. In 2009, she voted against both the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which resets the statue of limitations under the Civil Rights Act to file a lawsuit for equal pay, and the Paycheck Fairness Act, which would have barred employers from exercising gender discrimination when determining employees’ pay.
