War on Women'?: White House Found to Pay Women Less on Average Than Men

In light of the so-called Republican "war on women," the Washington Free Beacon recently investigated the internal pay scale of employees at Obama's White House, to see how "fairly" they are treated.

(Related: 'Almost Uniformly White' - How White is Obama's Campaign Staff, Really?)

The site reports:

According to the 2011 annual report on White House staff, female employees earned a median annual salary of $60,000, which was about 18 percent less than the median salary for male employees ($71,000).

[...]

President Obama has frequently criticized the gender pay gap, such as the one that exists in White House.

'Paycheck discrimination hurts families who lose out on badly needed income,' he said in a July 2010 statement. 'And with so many families depending on women’s wages, it hurts the American economy as a whole.'

Many on the right are impartial to pay distinctions, believing the best qualified individual should be hired--regardless of gender.  However, after months of fending of charges that they are sexist and literally "waging a war" on women, some find it interesting that the Obama administration doesn't necessarily practice the absolute equality it preaches.

Just today, for instance, Obama's official Twitter page wrote, "'I was shocked and disappointed to hear that Mitt Romney is not willing to stand up for women and their families." The tweet was criticizing Romney for not yet endorsing the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, which makes it easier for women to file gender discrimination suits.

Back in 2011, TIME's Amy Sullivan brought up the issue: "There’s a looseness to Obama when he’s hanging out with the boys club that doesn’t appear in co-ed gatherings...The president blows off steam on the golf course with male colleagues and friends. He takes to the White House basketball court with NBA stars, men’s college players, and male cabinet members and [male] members of Congress.”

And now, people like former Clinton press secretary Dee Dee Myers are saying, "Women are Obama’s base, and they don’t seem to have enough people who look like the base inside of their own inner circle."

So critics ask: Where does this leave the administration?  Hiring unnecessary employees on the taxpayer's dime to ensure they possess the equal diversity they demand of everyone else?  Or will they stop attacking Republicans as waging a "war on women" when they, too, seem to hire the best-qualified candidate (and pay them accordingly), regardless of gender?