Maybe President Obama should borrow one or two of Mitt Romney’s binders full of women, because there’s clearly a shortage of females among his top staff. The White House recently released a photo on its Flickr account with the caption: "In the Oval Office, the President meets with senior advisors to discuss the ongoing fiscal cliff negotiations."

There are 11 men in the picture and exactly zero females.

Side note: What is the deal with those couches and the laminated brick-looking coffee table? He can decorate however he wants, and that’s what he chooses? To each their own, I guess.

Design sense aside, let’s use a little common sense and ascertain how Obama really feels about women. One of my biggest pet peeves about the president is that he says one thing and then does another. On the campaign trail, he said he supports women’s rights, but then he failed to actually employ any of them at senior staff levels.

In his first term, he tried to pass the Lily Ledbetter Act, which would have guaranteed equal pay for equal work (which is redundant because we already have laws that do that, but whatever), yet he paid his own female staff 18 percent less than the males in 2011. The average salary for women working for Obama was $60,000, which is $11,000 short of the $71,000 average enjoyed by the men. Equality! Or something.

President Obama says he supports a woman’s right to choose, but then he passes legislation like Obamacare, which prohibits women (and men!) from making their own health care decisions. What if I don’t want or need health insurance at this stage of my life, Mr. President? Too bad for me -- now I have no choice.

Actions speak louder than words, and I have a hard time taking seriously a man who says he values women but then doesn’t trust them on his economic advisory team.

Do you think President Obama should employ more female advisors?


Image via Pete Souza/Official White House Photo