White House Fails to Elude Gender Gap, Report Shows

President Clinton’s gender gap is showing: More men than women are pulling down the fat White House paychecks.

To much chagrin, the salaries of 407 White House employees were mistakenly published in a Senate report--then splashed across the pages of the Washington Times on Friday.

Heads were shaking across the West Wing as staff members compared paychecks. One aide handed out business cards proving she was an “assistant” to the boss and not--as “that list” said--a mere “receptionist.”

Though it’s an old list, submitted to the Senate last July, it provided a snapshot of White House personnel that underscores a predicament Clinton shares with private employers: Men are often paid better than women.

Of the 21 aides who were earning $125,000 or more, 14 were men. And of the 32 earning $100,000 to $125,000, 20 were men.

“The White House is no different than the rest of society,” said public relations executive Sheila Tate, who worked in the Reagan White House. “The truth is, you look at the president and you do not see a lot of professional women surrounding him. His inner circle is generally white Caucasian men. That’s an issue that hasn’t changed.”

The White House declined to release a more up-to-date list. But spokesman Barry Toiv noted that Evelyn Lieberman was named one of Clinton’s two deputy chiefs of staff since it was compiled.

“This president by far has the strongest record of any president ever in terms of appointing women to very high-level jobs both in the White House and in the Cabinet,” Toiv said.

Women have had high-level roles in Clinton administrations since he entered public office. Most prominent among them is his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, who does not draw a White House salary. His longtime chief of staff in the Arkansas governor’s office was a woman, Betsey Wright.

Three of Clinton’s 14 Cabinet members are women and he has won high marks from women’s groups for appointing women to the federal courts in far greater percentages than his two Republican predecessors. Laura D’Andrea Tyson heads Clinton’s National Economic Council and Alice Rivlin recently was nominated to the Federal Reserve.

But Clinton’s inner circle, his most trusted advisors, consists mostly of men.

Tate, who said the problem was no better under Republican presidents, acknowledged it can be difficult finding enough women to fill the top positions.

“On the other hand, there are plenty of qualified women out there, and I don’t think the White House--any White House--tends to do enough to find them,” she said.