Binders Full of Women

"Important topic, and one in which I learned a great deal about, particularly as I was serving as governor of my state. Because I had the chance to pull together my cabinet and all the applicants seem to be men. And I went to my staff and said, 'How come all the people for these jobs are all men?' They said, 'Well these are the people that all have the qualifications.' And I said, 'Well gosh, can't we find some women that are also qualified?' And so we took a concerted effort to go out and find women who had backgrounds that could be qualified to become members of our cabinet. I went to a number of women's groups and said, 'Can you help us find folks?' And they brought us whole binders full of women. I was proud of the fact that after I staffed my cabinet and my senior staff that the University of New York in Albany did a survey of all 50 states and concluded that mine had more women in senior leadership positions than any other state in America."

If this "concerted effort" sounds more like an epic fantasy of patriarchy, remember that we're talking about Mitt Romney here, and pat yourself on the back for being correct:

Picture this: teams of thousands of frantic men in shiny black shoes, sweeping the American countryside with magnifying glasses, microscopic lenses, and a crack squad of investigators, searching under every rock and cranny, in every supermarket and church and bar, pinpointing possible locations via overhead satellite in search of the elusive "qualified woman." There had been many tales and legends told of such a creature, but few had ever spotted one. After much searching and repeated discouragement, all hope was almost given up. Until one day Mitt and his merry band of travelers came upon an oracle at a women's group who gave them a long sought after treasure: the Magic Binder of Women. It was told that whichever man possessed this sacred manuscript would have access to all the qualified women his heart desired: women perfect for "the job." For days the men hauled in stacks upon stacks of nicely binded paper in wheelbarrows for Mitt to study and "learn a great deal about" so he could finally demystify the mysterious feminine psyche and employ them in his cabinet.

What Romney does in his attempt to promote women's rights is to actually miss the point entirely. The idea of women being cataloged, archived, and distributed among men is in itself an objectification of women in the workforce. But not only does he "bind" them up, he also uses them for statistical purposes, as a means for bragging among his other fellow men that, "we have the most women in our leadership positions." This is not treating women as an equal part of the workforce. It is treating them as sexualized statistical possessions used to leverage themselves into a facade of social progress. Even the word "binder" has so many negative connotations of confinement, management, categorizing, and an obsession with administration that is proof of the sickening products of Western thought.