Women and Politics

This post was submitted by Rebecca Freedholm, WCF Communications Fellow

I have to admit that I was startled when I first read the title of Katrin Bennhold’s New York Times article, “Feminism of the Future Relies on Men.” Despite the evocation of the future, I braced myself to see the archaic rhetoric of women’s dependency masked in the guise of Palin-inspired “conservative feminism.”

Fortunately, my defense was unnecessary. Instead of the antiquated discourse I had expected, I received a thought-provoking account of the obstacles to gender equality that still exist in the Western world.

The picture that Bennhold paints of women’s stance today is an accurate one in that it is full of confounding contradictions:

“Women earn more doctorates, but less money. They are overtaking men in the work force, but still do most housework. They make the consumer decisions but run only 3 percent of Fortune 500 companies.”

As a stalwart feminist working for women’s advancement in public office, I find myself constantly confronted with the same message: “We have come so far, and yet we have so far to go.”

Why has gender equity proved so difficult to achieve, especially when women excel in so many areas? How is it that we still have such a long way to go?

The answer is perhaps an obvious one.

“In the Western world, motherhood remains the barrier to gender equality. Until they have children, young women now earn nearly the same as men and climb the career ladder at a similar pace. With the babies often come career breaks, part-time work and a rushed two-shift existence that means sacrificing informal networks like the after hours beer-and-bonding experience often crucial at promotion time.”

Unequal division of labor in the household still thwarts women’s advancement in the workforce. Women get pregnant and have to take time off from work. Women go on maternity leave and have to put their careers on the backburner. Women are responsible for the post-work “second shift” of housework and child rearing.

Where are all the men?

When it comes to household division of labor, women have become content with the status quo. Surely feminists have fought valiantly to change the dynamics of the workplace to better accommodate women’s needs—women have negotiated for adequate maternity leave policies, argued for more flexible hours, and opened up avenues for part-time work or work-from-home opportunities in order to balance their roles in the workplace and the home.

As significant as these steps may be, they have not yet yielded sufficient solutions. Women have already proved that they can enter into the “world of men.” What they need to do now, Bennhold postulates, is concentrate on “pulling men into women’s universe.”

“The only thing that can level the playing field at work is a level playing field at home. And that requires a major shift in public policy and corporate culture.”

Gender equality should apply to all realms, in and out of the office. Moreover, gender equality should be important to all people, men and women alike. The solution, it seems, is to inform men of their role in perpetuating gender inequality, to show men how they can benefit from gender equality, and to ultimately engage men in the feminist movement.

As Joanne Dreyfus claims, “Men have a lot to gain from the rise of women.” Men deserve more time in the home with their families, and if the corporate environment were to accommodate men by including paternity leave policies and more flexible work schedules for all employees, both men and women could benefit from a more manageable work-home balance.

Furthermore, employers need to recognize that accommodating all of their employees will aid the advancement of women in the workplace—something companies can be sure to profit from. Research continues to demonstrate that women’s increased involvement in leadership positions positively influences decision-making processes.

I was, therefore, slightly disturbed by Bennhold’s assertion that “guys are the more effective feminists because other guys are more likely to listen to them” (Is feminism yet another realm where men supposedly exceed women?). This claim implies that it’s not important for women to hold leadership positions because men can more effectively push these policies on their own.

Certainly it is vital to convince men already in power of how gender equality will benefit all people. But men alone cannot accomplish the task at hand any more than women alone can. It is crucial to have men and women participating in leadership roles together, constantly in dialog to create policies that help all people reach their fullest potential.

So yes, we must persuade men that gender equality is worth fighting for. But as we enlist men in our cause, we absolutely cannot cease in our endeavor to achieve equal representation in leadership. If we fail to usher more talented women into leadership roles, gender equality will never be realized and our country will suffer the consequences.

As the first-time mother of an 8-month-old, I’m often concerned with making the world better for my daughter as she grows up. But every day, I also realize that I’m not in this struggle alone. Not only are there millions of moms out there trying to figure out how to balance work, a personal life, and a child (or three)—there are also millions of fathers that now have to face the same challenges.

According to CAWP,

Elected women are working to make the agenda of legislative institutions more reflective of women’s concerns stemming from their roles as caregivers in the family and in society more generally.

Fathers have many of the same concerns, especially as more families have two working parents.

In 1995, the then Women’s Campaign Research Fund (now WCF Foundation) found that:

65% of men believe we’d have a better Congress if it had more women… A majority of women legislators (unlike men) list health care, children, family, housing, environment and education as their top priorities. In 1993, when they doubled their numbers to just over 10% in Congress, women helped write and pass more laws benefiting the family than in any previous year.

It’s been over 15 years, and still only 17% of Congress is women, and families are still being left behind. Far more men today are concerned with issues like paternity leave and child care than they were in the past, and that’s why all parents need more women in government.

Help celebrate the challenges that parents today face, and recognize the contribution of fathers nationwide by telling your representatives that we need more women in government.