'Binders full of women': Romney's four words that alienated women voters

The Facebook group "Binders Full of Women" has, at time of writing, 212,484 likes. Mitt Romney's daft boast has become a viral meme, complete with its own Tumblr and an avalanche of mocking tweets. It's fair to say the second presidential debate did not go Romney's way.

The delicious irony is that the phrase was supposed to show us Romney the feminist. As governor of Massachusetts, he explained: "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."

Instead, he managed to conjure an image confirming every feminist's worst fears about a Romney presidency; that he views women's rights in the workplace as so much business admin, to be punched and filed and popped on a shelf. Worse still, it was irrelevant to the question he'd actually been asked, about pay inequality. And, according to several fact-checkers, untrue. He didn't ask for the binders full of women. The list was compiled before he even took office. It wasn't just a gaffe: it was a Freudian slip, a filibuster and a falsehood.

It also wasn't even the daftest part of his answer. That would have to be this bizarre promise: "We're going to have to have employers in the new economy, in the economy I'm going to bring to play, that are going to be so anxious to get good workers they're going to be anxious to hire women."

So anxious, they'll hire women. Subtext: so desperate, they'll hire anyone. Even you, ladies. The implication being that in Romney's dream economy employers will grind their teeth and chew their nails until, in a lengthy silence at the tenth tense board meeting, one brave executive tentatively suggests "Guys, I hate to say it, but I think we need to hire people without penises."

Again, not only is it stupid, but it's addressing a question no one has asked. The problem is that women are paid less for the same jobs, not that the labour market isn't flooded enough for employers to take a charitable gamble on them.

Romney's attempt to paint himself as a feminist only proved he doesn't know what the word means. That's why whole binders full of women won't be voting for him. And it's why it's now 219,270 likes.