Women At War

I don’t like politics, and I am careful about not using my blog or my Facebook wall to espouse personal political views.  But today's headlines leave me "legitimately" concerned.  I am weary of the great political divide across America that is gridlocking our government.  I am also concerned that hidden beneath party politics, many are unwitting soldiers in a war against women. 

This year we are facing two presidential candidates, each for whom I have voted in past elections—albeit one of those in a different context.  In that context, the candidate presented himself to our state as a moderate, lining himself up positively with values supported by the majority in this very liberal Commonwealth—most notably, pro-choice.  Now that he is his party’s face for a Presidential election, we are witnessing his not-so-subtle shift to conservative positions on a wide range of topics.  My personal theory is that his true leanings are discernible only when the topics align with his personal interests:  taxes, fiscal spending, and the role of government.  These are areas where his record and expertise are relevant.  Other areas, such as the environment, abortion, and healthcare, have little overlap in his personal life, making him willing to tow his party’s line to further another of his interests—getting elected.  

Unfortunately, the issues that may be throwaways or fill-in-the-blanks for him are paramount for me.  I would willingly “pay a little more” in taxes for an administration that keeps its paws away from Roe v. Wade.  Sadly, our Supreme Court precedents do not come with a warning label that says “severe social damage—don’t back up.”  I tell my children that milestones are important, but sadly, politics is one frontier where milestones do not stick.  Once you get your high school diploma or college degree it can never be taken away.  In this country, however, we can fight for centuries for rights, equality, and social justice only to have it stripped away before the victory balloons burst.  I suppose that being fluid about laws and interpretations allows us to remain current with the times.  I would hate for Prohibition, as an example, to have been etched indelibly on our permanent record.

What bothers me is the sentiment behind today’s fight.  I see a lot of misogyny masquerading as politics.  It is not so blatant that everyone sees it, but anyone who has studied the women’s movement can draw a straight line from the framing of the Constitution (Abigail Adams urged her husband to “remember the ladies,” but he did not) to the fight for women’s suffrage (not accomplished until the 20^th Century), to Margaret Sanger’s lifetime struggle to have birth control declared legal and recognized as a “right” of medical privacy, to the eventual Supreme Court landmark Roe v. Wade, granting abortion as a continuation of that right to privacy.  

My daughter, born at the end of the 20^th Century, grew up seeing a world where anything is possible for women.  She is certainly capable, intellectually, of giving any man a run for his money.  She is beautiful and amazingly “girly,” yet forthright, centered, well-read, and well-spoken.   She deserves every opportunity to succeed in any field.  Unlike her mother, she has never been told, “that’s pretty good, for a girl,” or “that’s not a field for women.”   

Women are different than men, but we should never have to sacrifice equality because of biology.  We deserve equal protection under the law, as well as equal opportunity in education, business, participation in politics, and all other aspects of life.  When you understand how hard-fought today’s freedoms are for women, you understand how hard men fought to prevent these “milestones” from happening.  Today it seems silly to ask, “Why would anyone wish to prevent women from voting?”

It's not a strictly rhetorical question, and I don’t like the answer.  The fact is, there are lots of people in our society who believe that men and women are not equal, that it’s a man’s world, and that a woman’s place is in the home.  I have seen teachings from many churches that espouse this as doctrine.  Although women have won many well-executed political battles, this prejudice is engrained in many folds of our society.  It is in the cultural DNA.  Women with liberty, education, and a voice are threatening to a certain way of life.  And the men who live that “certain way” fear the creation of a legal domain where they have no voice.  

We cannot use the Constitution or the government to uphold a certain old-fashioned ideal of the nuclear family.  Women will continue to try to balance their biological legacy with their destiny as human beings.  Men who hold a different view of a women’s role will likely find like-minded women with whom to share a life, but not by legislating it or by tethering all women to the stove and the bedpost.

I listen very carefully now when politicians speak.  I am looking for those words that reveal whether a candidate is focused on a better lifestyle or a specific one.  Chances are, the values that betray misogyny are also harboring racist and homophobic agendas.