Women and Politics

This post was submitted by Sophie Shulman, WCF Communications Fellow

I hope all of you read WCF President/CEO Siobhan “Sam” Bennett’s most recent op-ed in the Huffington Post. She does an excellent job refuting Sarah Palin’s claim that her “mama grizzlies” represent the majority of American women. I completely agree with Sam that while we love how women are getting engaged in politics, this vein of political activism is actually detrimental to women’s rights and equality.

Unfortunately, Adrienne Royer at Cosmopolitan Conservative doesn’t seem to have understood this message. She read Sam’s article and declared that:

“Sam Bennett, who happens to be the executive director of the Women’s Campaign Forum, decided to issue her decree that conservative women aren’t real women.”

However, Sam’s point was that these women’s views don’t include protecting women’s rights and equality for all people. Sam actually made the argument that:

“Although most, if not all, of Sarah’s followers are Republican, that doesn’t mean they speak for all GOP women.”

Indeed, here at WCF, we’re proud to endorse Republican women that recognize the importance of allowing women to make their own health decisions. As the Republican party has become more anti-woman in its platform, this brand of Republican woman has been harder and harder to find; however, WCF has a proud history of endorsing hundreds of Republican women that were not afraid to stand up for women.

This was the crux of Sam’s argument—that anti-woman policies do not need to define conservative women. Sarah Palin’s attempt to co-opt feminism for herself and her radical followers is not a move that will serve women well.

In her post, Royer identifies herself as a pro-life woman who supports the use of contraceptives. While this is not the position that WCF has chosen, this shows the dynamic nature of this issue. Despite the experiences in her own family, Sarah Palin doesn’t support comprehensive sex education or access to contraceptives. I agree with Royer that abortion, contraception, and sex-ed:

“Are complicated issues, and ones that reflect a myriad of views even among conservative, pro-life communities.”

But I disagree with her contention that these issues don’t go hand-in-hand. The idea that access to comprehensive sexual education and contraceptives is somehow separate from other important health decisions is simply false. Conservative, anti-choice groups would like to believe that if we ignore the issue, by teaching abstinence-only sex-ed and limiting access to essential health resources, the problem will go away.

Royer criticized WCF’s use of a poll that showed that 81% of Americans support individuals making their own health choices—because it was 4 years old. I hate to break it to her, but women have needed to make these choices throughout history—and for a long time, they had to do it alone, and in a way that often endangered their lives. Perhaps she should take her own advice that:

“Women should be free to decide political views for themselves–whether they are liberal or conservative.”

I wholeheartedly agree. Women should be able to make all the same decisions that men can—including over their own bodies and health care needs. No one’s political views—Sam’s, mine, or Sarah Palin’s—should limit anyone else’s right to make their own important health choices.

This post was submitted by Sophie Shulman, WCF Communications Fellow

Ever since Sarah Palin declared herself a “feminist,” there has been a resurgence in the debate about how to—and who is allowed—to define the word.  This morning, WCF President/CEO Siobhan “Sam” Bennett tried to explain to Laura Ingraham why it’s so important for feminists to stand up for the policies that will lead to gender equality in the United States.

Sam was adamant that the sexist attacks on Nikki Haley and Sarah Palin are reprehensible, and here at WCF, we always make a point to criticize attacks on all women, even if they don’t share our views on reproductive choice.

However, Sam made a crucial distinction between our endorsed candidates and women like Sarah Palin:

Feminism from the very beginning has been about equality for men and women. 81% of Americans believe that… as an individual, not the government, [I] should have control over my own important life decisions, and these women don’t support that… Sarah Palin calling herself a conservative feminist is like BP calling themselves corporate environmentalists. You don’t get to just pick up that word and use it the way you want it.

While these socially conservative women seem to support equality in the workplace and upper echelons of our political system, it is essential that all women—including the disadvantaged and under-educated—have the same freedom in all aspects of life.

In fact, it is disproportionately lower income women who suffer the most from anti-choice policies, which restrict their options and decision-making power. Real feminists cannot ignore this disparity and assume that all women are afforded the privilege and opportunity of people like Carly Fiorina.

Candidates like Fiorina have been able to mount their political campaigns largely due to their personal wealth. Granted, for generations, wealthy men have dominated the political sphere, and I’m glad to see that these women were able to succeed in the business world and promote women’s involvement in government.

But I’m also concerned that these women aren’t looking out for others who have not been as lucky. As Sam put it this morning, reproductive health choices are directly linked to a woman’s quality of life and future success:

If you take away that control from a woman, you take away her economic viability, you take away all the other host of things that make a life that she’s going to enjoy even possible… she needs to be able to make that choice herself.

Women like Sarah Palin and Carly Fiorina are riding on the coattails of the hard work and success of what pro-choice feminists have achieved. It’s exceedingly unfortunate that they seek to utilize this success do just the opposite for all other women.

We often hear women candidates credit the support of family and friends in their run for office. But the fact is, for women to choose to run for office, they need economic independence, a support system, and the ability to make their own health choices (just as every man in this country does).

Americans have always believed that equality of opportunity is a core value of our society. Let’s not forget that providing reproductive health choices for all will allow women the same chance as men to succeed in politics, business, and life—which is what feminism is all about.

This post was submitted by Jean Qiao, WCF Communications Fellow

America is hungry for moderate republican women.

In her recent appearance on Fox’s America’s News HQ, WCF President/CEO Sam Bennett argued that in order for the GOP to succeed in gaining more votes the 2010 election cycle, they must recruit more women.

When talking about the special election for Massachusetts Senate, Bennett said:

“Brown took that seat again in no small part because he was in the middle of the ground and he supports, as a majority of the Americans want to see supported, an American’s right to choose their own reproductive choices and options”

Believe it or not, only 21 Republican women serve in the 111th U.S. Congress; four in the Senate and 17 in the House of Representatives. With Republican women representing only 4% of Congress, you would think that the GOP would take the hint and rally its support behind their moderate women candidates.

Apparently numbers is not enough of a wake-up-call. Let’s not forget the special election in New York’s 23rd Congressional district last year. The Republican Party decided to back Conservative party candidate Doug Hoffman, drastically yanking their support at the last minute for previously RNC-endorsed candidate Dede Scozzafava,  leading to the suspension of her campaign.

If the majority of the American people support women’s reproductive freedoms, isn’t it about time the GOP jump on that bandwagon as well?

Click here to see the full Fox America’s News HQ video on WCF’s YouTube channel.

This post was submitted by Jean Qiao, WCF Communications Fellow

In January, WCF President/CEO Sam Bennett was a guest on MSNBC’s Hardball with Chris Matthews. Along with NOW President Terry O’Neill, Bennett discussed the sexism and double standards that greatly affected Martha Coakley’s race for Massachusetts Senate.

During the energetic banter, Bennett made it no secret to Matthews all the viewers that double standards still cripple the campaigns of female candidates. Bennett touched upon how the media scrutinized her serious demeanor, being called “ice queen” as well as the media’s response to her opponent’s Cosmopolitan centerfold:

“Bennett: Her opponent, nude male centerfold gets a total pass, and here’s Martha Coakley called an ice queen, if she was a guy, Chris, she would have been called dignified.

Matthews: And if she had done the centerfold?

Bennett: She wouldn’t even have been in the race. It wouldn’t even happen. It would have been a deal-killer for her. It’s about a double standard, it happens all the time.”

Watch Bennett’s engaging conversation with Matthews on WCF’s YouTube channel.

I was saddened to hear about the recent sexist attacks against Martha Coakley, Olympia Snowe, and Susan Collins.

As a former Congressional candidate, I know exactly how it feels to be attacked simply for being a woman. I never realized just how sexist politics is until I decided to run for office.

My local paper ran an unacceptable quote about me on the front page during my race. Now, I’ve decided to tell my story on camera to bring these kinds of misogynistic attacks to light.

Click here to hear my story and help us put a stop to sexist attacks.

Help us fight sexism in politics today: we’ve provided the emails of all four recent offending members of the media so you can contact them and speak out against their offensive sexist rhetoric.

I have the honor of appearing on PBS’s To the Contrary tomorrow - an all-female news analysis series:

“With women in the forefront of politics and on the cutting edge of national agendas, To The Contrary continues to provide an important, timely forum for women to discuss national and international issues and policies. It presents news and views that are rarely, if ever, available elsewhere on television.”

With so many ongoing issues that affect women today, I couldn’t be more thrilled to be part of this program. Tomrrow’s topics will center around health care reform and the fact that women are staying in the workforce longer. I’ll be back to let you know how it went and share the video with you!

WCF-endorsed candidate Jennifer Brunner currently leads her Republican opponent in the upcoming Ohio senate race, according to a recent Public Policy Polling Survey.  The current Secretary of State will face a primary election on May 4, 2010.

For more on Jennifer Brunner’s Campaign, visit her website and read what WCF President Sam Bennett has to say about her.