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It seems everyone has their thoughts and opinions about the first Republican vice presidential nominee, Sarah Palin, these days, and I am no different.
I was surprised when I heard McCain had picked her, but I was also happy that a woman was now on one of the political party's top ticket. It didn't matter to me what ticket she was on- as a woman and a mother, I thought it was a step in the right direction.
If you are a regular blog reader of mine, you may remember the post I wrote in May, about how I felt the media in particular, had portrayed Hillary Clinton in a sexist and discriminatory way, simply because she was a woman. If I thought that was bad for Hillary Clinton, it has just been beyond belief, the attack the media and blogs have launched against Sarah Palin in just over a week.
This just makes no sense to me whatsoever. For years feminists like Gloria Steinem, have been advocating for women that they should be able to have a choice. They shouldn't have to give up careers in order to be mothers. Women should be considered as equals and they should have the same chances and opportunities as men. One of Gloria Steinem's quotes I have always liked is, "I've yet to be on a campus where most women weren't worrying about some aspect of combining marriage, children, and a career. I've yet to find one where many men were worrying about the same thing."
There is a woman in the national spotlight, in the running for one of our country's highest positions, (never mind her politics for a minute) who has combined marriage, children, and a career, and is successful at it. Instead of feminists like Steinem acknowledging that this is indeed a breakthrough for women, she writes an article for the LA Times (Wrong Woman, Wrong Time) basically saying the only reason Palin was picked by McCain was "to please right-wing ideologues." Steinem also asserts "that feminism has never been about getting a job for one woman, but making life more fair for women everywhere."
If Steinem really believed the above statement, why didn't she make a similar statement about Hillary Clinton? Hillary Clinton was one woman, as well, running for one job. How does it make "life more fair for women everywhere" if Clinton were to be elected president, but it would not make "life more fair for women everywhere" if Palin was elected vice president?
Steinem continues,
"And American women, who suffer more because of having two full-time jobs than from any other single injustice, finally have support on a national stage from male leaders who know that women can't be equal outside the home until men are equal in it. Barack Obama and Joe Biden are campaigning on their belief that men should be, can be and want to be at home for their children."
Sarah Palin's husband, Todd, is becoming a stay-at-home Dad. Isn't this what Steinem was hoping for in part when she wrote, "...until there is a support on a national stage from male leaders who know that women can't be equal outside the home until men are equal in it? "
Futhermore, when a male presidential candidate picks a woman for his running mate, it sends a message to women and to men, that he believes his pick is qualified and capable of being an effective vice president. What many have considered obstacles and reasons why Sarah Palin should not have been picked, McCain saw the very thing Steinem wants- "a male leader(s) who know that women can't be equal outside the home until men are equal in it? "
It seems to me John McCain and the Palin family already figured out, what Steinem wrote about. Palin's husband Todd, is equal in the home, and will be home with their children. In my eyes, the support on a national stage for women, that Steinem talks about Obama and Biden needing to bring, is already here.
Why do we need "male leaders" to bring support to working women, and to help make men equal in the house, when it is already been in place for years? Not just with McCain, Palin and her husband, but with the thousands and thousands of working families, where the mother works, and the father stays at home. It seems like a real insult to working mothers, and stay-at-home fathers.
I can't help but wonder if Steinem would feel this way if Palin wasn't a Republican, but a Democrat? It makes me wonder if the type of feminism that Steinem has been pushing for, for all these years, has more do with politics than gender?
The most repulsive part of the
