Government has a new moral and economic imperative, according to presidential hopeful Elizabeth Warren, who vowed to wield the power of the Oval Office against the “systemic discrimination” minority women face in the workforce.
In a new proposal, Warren, a Massachusetts senator, promised to issue several executive orders to eliminate the gender pay gap and increase representation of minority women in the workforce, specifically in federal careers.
“Our economy should be working just as hard for women of color as women of color work for our economy and their families,” Warren wrote in a post on Medium. “For decades, the government has helped perpetuate the systemic discrimination that has denied women of color equal opportunities. It’s time for the government to try to right those wrongs — and boost our economy in the process.”
This executive order would “promote equity in the private sector” by requiring federal contractors and government agencies to recruit women from historically black colleges and other institutions with large minority populations. It would also establish paid fellowships for low-income applicants, including former criminals, and require agencies to incorporate diversity training.
At first glance, Warren’s proposal seems nonthreatening and even noble. Equal pay and equal representation are the very things women have fought for for decades. But Warren’s plan does nothing to advance that fight and everything to deter it.
Warren’s orders would undermine the very people she wants to help: minority women. All women, regardless of skin color, should be valued for their strength and independence. These are the very qualities Warren hopes to foster through her government-mandated programs. But by mandating the inclusion of women in the workforce, Warren is essentially communicating that they could not have gotten there on their own. Rather, they needed assistance: a push to the top from, of all things, the government.
If men didn’t need a government program requiring their incorporation into the workforce, why should women? Recognizing gender discrepancies is one thing, but using the government to force companies and agencies to reconcile those discrepancies will only create more inequality. There are so many talented women of color in the workforce today, and that number will only continue to grow — without help from Warren or the government. Suggesting otherwise discredits the many accomplishments minority women have already achieved.
Warren’s heart might be in the right place, but let’s hope her pen isn’t, come 2020.
