Fact Check

Ann Romney: Moms for Mitt

Did Ann Romney say men 'deserve to be paid at a higher rate' than women?

Published April 21, 2012

Claim:

Claim:   Ann Romney said men "deserve to be paid at a higher rate" than women.


FALSE


Example:   [Collected via e-mail, April 2012]


Did Ann Romney really say this:

"Why should women be paid equal to men? Men have been in the working world a lot longer and deserve to be paid at a higher rate. Heck, I'm a working mom and I've not paid a dime. I depend on my husband to provide for me and my family, as should most women ... and if a woman does work, she should be happy just to be out there in the working world and quit complaining that she's not making as much as her male counterparts. I mean really, all this wanting to be equal nonsense is going to be detrimental to the future of women everywhere. Who's going to want to hire a woman, or for that matter, even marry a woman who thinks she is the same, if not better than a man at any job. It's almost laughable. C'mon now ladies, are you with me on this?"

The article I read says this was a direct quote from a "Moms for Mitt" meeting in Philadelphia on April 17th.



 

Origins:   The quote cited in the Example block at the head of this page about 2012 Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's wife addressing a crowd in Philadelphia and opining that men "deserve to be paid at a higher rate" than women is not something that was actually stated by Ann Romney. It's an unattributed excerpt from a spoof article published on 18 April 2012 by the satirical web site Free Wood Post, whose disclaimer notes that:



Free Wood Post is a news and political satire web publication, which may or may not use real names, often in semi-real or mostly fictitious ways. All news articles contained within FreeWoodPost.com are fiction, and presumably fake news.

Last updated:   21 April 2012

David Mikkelson founded the site now known as snopes.com back in 1994.

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