'Binders Full of Women' Fact Check on Romney Comment

"In the debate on Tuesday night, Mitt Romney said that he made every effort to find qualified women to appoint to cabinet positions when he was governor of Massachusetts.

"Well, gosh," he said he told his staff who had an abundance of male applicants, "Can't we find some -- some women that are also qualified?"

"I went to a number of women's groups and said, 'Can you help us find folks?'" Romney added. "And they brought us whole binders full of women."

Romney's story isn't entirely accurate.

Those "binders full of women" actually came from a coalition called Massachusetts Government Appointments Project, or MassGAP, that had formed in August 2002 to address the shortage of women in high-ranking government positions. They had started assembling groups of applicants, taking several months to reach out to women's organizations around the state and preparing to present potential hires to whichever candidate won the election."* Cenk Uygur explains that while 'binders full of women" is becoming a viral hit, Romney wasn't exactly responsible for them.

*Read more from Matt Viser/Boston Globe:

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[Q]

The blunder was doubly hilarious for conjuring up memories of HBO’s Big Love—about a fictional Mormon family that practices polygamy—and its references to “Joy Books.” The books (or binders, if you will) are encyclopedias of young (like 14-years-old-young) women eligible for marriage, which fundamentalist Mormon men can use to shop for extra wives. Apparently, the books are real.

[A]

True, but negative discrimination still far outnumbers positive discrimination in the workplace. Though I agree that positive discrimination doesn't truly help solve the problem either. To be honest I'm kind of at a loss as to how to solve the discrimination problem since discrimination is a very difficult thing to prove, even if Equal Employment Opportunity laws were given more teeth.

It's kind of like trying to prove in court that Paul Ryan is a liar just by how his face looks.

[Cyrano]

Where I work there are only women full of binders ...

[eklice]

the question wasn't even about hiring a lot of women, it was about women getting the same pay as men for the same work.

[DirtyandThirtyTV]

No one has as many binders full of women as we do!

[buzzybuzzbuzz]

I was looking for binders full of women then I took an arrow to the knee.

[A]

A similar study that showed that dummy applications with impeccable qualifications were around 50% more likely to be turned down in most workplaces if the name on it was "black-sounding" or if the applicant over the phone has a "black-sounding" voice. The VERY SAME applicants or applications were 50% more likely to get a call-back or hired if they had a "white-sounding" name or voice over the phone.

Neumark's own study concluded AA does little to reverse these kinds of trends.

[Shangori]

First inches, foot, yard and mile, now 'binder' as measurement unit? Americans.. the oddities of humanity

[AliRadicali]

That was my immediate thought as well.

[beatleapostle]

The question to Romney was about equal pay for women. His "binders" response evaded the question.

[Suzanne]

This was my first thought too! I'm a white woman and when I heard that story my jaw just dropped - I knew it was BS as soon as he said "all the qualified applicants were men", because what are the fucking chances. But more shockingly - this story, the way he tells it, is supposed to make him look good, to people who thing AA is the most evil thing ever?!! I would LOVE to hear him pressed on why it was ok, if it happened as he told it, to discriminate against ALL QUALIFIED APPLICANTS like that...

[DameunPutazo]

Romney demanded 'binders full of women', but then... he... took an arrow to the knee.

[lozman]

There is affirmative action for male primary school teachers, but it hasn't changed the profession being 90% female. When I began teacher training college, I was told that 'any man who wants to work with small children must be dodgy' - and that was from a colleague. I no longer teach.

[ChevaliersEmeraude]

Nope, they clearly state that the percentages are about spots that are held, not about new appointments! Look at it again, it's clearly written ''Senior-level positions in Massachusetts government HELD by women''.

[DeyoLmao]

Cenk, just wanted to let you know that I watch your show everyday. My 3 year old son has been running around saying "Of Cenk!" since he learned to talk. Today he came up while I was watching this video and he tells me, "Look Daddy! It's Uncle News!" So, just wanted you to know that you're so well known in my household, that my son see's you as fam. Keep up the good work, man!

[SumireIsrafel]

No, they are trying to keep the number of qualified women equal to the number of men. Come on, not rocket science.

[carlguyer]

The correct language is "fewer women", not less women. "Less women" is not a nice thing to say.

[MitchofSmeg]

The annoying thing is that there is (at least according to the uk gov) an equal number of women abusing kids as there are men.

[moshonkel]

how on earth did i read :" trail of cylinders nerf."?

[AlbanZap]

Why In American politics do the press never call these politicians on their lies? There seems to be plenty of news reports on Romney 'mixing up the facts' (and of course other politicians) but no politician will actually question him on these 'mix-ups'. Or the fact that Romney has changed his mind of key points.