Sarah Palin, the new feminist. Photo: Bruce Tuten
Nancy Harder wonders why women aren’t demanding more.
Last week, the Southern Baptist Convention officially denounced divorce. Their Bible-thumping decree couldn’t help bring back fond memories of SPC’s 1998 proclamation that “a wife is to submit herself graciously to the servant leadership of her husband.”
Newsweek’s front cover featured an article by Lisa Miller titled, “Saint Sarah–What Palin’s Appeal to Conservative Christian Women Says About Feminism and the Future of the Religious Right.”
And The Atlantic’s July/August cover story, by Hanna Rosin, brazenly countered “The End of Men-How Women are Taking Control of Everything.”
Something’s stirring here and it sounds a little familiar.
Women getting too powerful? Let’s lay down antiquated, selective inerrantist proclamations to make Rush Limbaugh-listening men and the women who love them feel better about their lives.
While we’re at it, let’s make a role model out of an insipid Alaskan pro-life talking head who will gladly espouse conservative, gender discriminatory doctrine under the guise of femininity and (go girls!) women’s power.
Real power
For the first time in history, women have the undeniable opportunity to be equitably powerful, to make all of our own choices in our lives and have the same opportunities as men.
According to Hanna Rosin’s article, women became the majority of the workforce for the first time in US history this year.
Photo: quinet
And for every two men who get a college degree in 2010, three women will do the same.
Women live longer and are, arguably, better suited for the modern post-industrial age. According to Rosin, the attributes most desirable today, “social intelligence and open communication… –are at a minimum, not predominately male”.
Women don’t even need a 1:1 ratio of men to biologically procreate–not to say anything of the complex roles of parenting.
The gap
Despite these statistics, there is still a prevailing wage gap between men and women. One that can still be attributed to gender discrimination. As of 2006, women earned 76.6 cents to the dollar to men. African-American women earned 64 cents to the dollar, and Hispanic women’s earnings dropped to 52 cents per dollar earned by white men.
Not only are wages inequitable, but women continue to assume most child care and the upper echelons of society are still male-dominated.
Barbara J. Berg, author of Sexism in “Amerca: Alive, Well, and Ruining our Future” writes:
Under then-President Bush, we saw cutbacks in programs vital to women’s health, reproductive rights and education. Much of this was done covertly, but when it was brought out in the open it was justified as budget-cutting for the war. The emphasis on the individual at the expense of government programs was also a feature of [Bush's] administration. There has been increased violence in our popular culture on the one hand, and a hypersexualization of women and girls on the other, in our post-9/11 society…There have been reductions in childcare facilities and vast food insecurities (a euphemistic term for hunger) due to wage decreases, the reduction of food stamps and the like. Something often overlooked is how many women’s studies and women’s history programs have been put on the chopping block because schools had to make reductions and these are among the first [programs] to go. This hurts the awareness of what is happening to women’s rights.
Unfortunately, the story of how circus elephants are trained in learned helplessness resonates as I write this. When young, the elephants are attached by heavy chains to deep stakes in the ground. After ineffective struggling, the elephants give up, learning they cannot pull free. From that point on, even if the elephant has a slender rope loosely tied, it will not try to escape.
As Gavin de Becker wrote, “Because it believes it cannot, it cannot.”
Don’t turn your back
It feels the women’s movement is now being used against us by the Christian Right, bottling their brand with the fresh new label “female power”.
And Sarah Palin is their number one spokeswoman. God help us all.
In Lisa Miller’s Newsweek article, Sarah Palin has become a pro-life role model, if not “prophet, ordained by God for a special role in the cosmic battle against the forces of evil.”
Tell that to Sarah Palin. Photo: juliejordanscott
She’s giving pro-life talks to women’s groups and pro-life organizations around the country. Despite other pressing issues (economy, war, oil spills…) abortion is still a hot issue.
In 2010, 11 states passed anti-abortion laws and 370 anti-abortion bills were introduced in state legislatures, according to the Guttmacher Institute.
Sarah Palin has even started to describe herself as a feminist (gasp! dirty word) due to her family values and devotion to her children.
Palin says old feminism is a relic of “the faculty lounge at some East Coast College.”
Sarah Palin has even started to describe herself as a feminist (gasp! dirty word).
The new feminists–the women who follow Palin–aren’t third wave feminists. They aren’t focused on birth control, sex ed, gender discrimination, or choosing between work and family.
According to Miller, these women, instead, seek to “submit to male authority and conservative theology while assuming more visible roles in families, churches, communities, and the world.”
Staying submissive to men and conservative theology while being powerful isn’t just a non-sequitur. It’s hollow, just like the puppets these women, who are a loudmouth spout of men’s values, end up being.
Outrage–or lack of
Despite the fear of the power the Christian Right have on America– the Southern Baptists are the largest Protestant demonimation in US and have 16 million members alone–the group to be worried about are the Buchanan-coined “silent majority”.
By not getting more outraged that we –women– are likely paid less, treated poorly or ignored, stripped of our ability to choose, denied medical rights and childcare, and generally discriminated against while we’re in the population, college, and workforce majority, we do the worst damage to feminism.
Photo:Frerieke
We set ourselves back, other minorities back, and the rest of the world’s women back, by not demanding the right to make all of our own choices and have access to equal opportunities.
So what can we do?
Educate ourselves about the history of women and the incredibly complex relationships between the sexes, stay aware of introduced legislation and write your congressmen/women, demand raises and equal treatment in the workforce, and support our fellow women’s choices, whatever they may be.
You can also check out the Feminist Majority Foundation and the Association for Women’s Right in Development for more information about events that fight for equality around the world.
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15 Comments... join the discussion!
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Well said, Steph. We do need to be our best advocates and to not turn our backs. The feminist movement is so not over. And it’s more dangerous than ever because people believe it’s over.
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Stephanie,
We started somewhat of this conversation before.
I agree with you that clearly men and women are not treated equally, particularly if you look at feminism on a more global scale, it is important to recognize that feminism has changed. Meaning, the issues facing women have changed and modified over the last decades, specifically in richer, more democratic or socialist countries.
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And don’t let the men – or women – who say the “feminine” has taken over society and made men “soft” in the process get away with their illogical and ridiculous rhetoric.
As for Sarah Palin, funny that a woman who “submit(s) to male authority and conservative theology while assuming more visible roles in families, churches, communities, and the world” actually takes on the patriarchal role in her family, and definitely plays by men’s rules in the political arena. She is so full of shit I can’t help but see why the country’s pipes are so clogged with her – we love drama and things that don’t make a damn bit of sense.
Nice piece, Nancy.
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Right on, Christine. That bothers the hell out of me too, the rhetoric that society has become feminine and men feminized. Open up any Cosmo/Marie Claire/etc. magazine most months and you’ll find advice over how not to emasculate your man by being too much of an alpha-female. Gimme a break.
And I agree, completely about Sarah Palin. Senseless drama to the max.
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Let me say, great piece, Nancy! At the core I agree with the points that you and Christine are making in the comments here. But I think the objection to Cosmo, etc. is to the oversimplification of these ideas.
Men’s place in the world is changing and as a result, so is that of women. We are all left a bit confused as to our roles in certain ways.
So much of what I learned in my women’s studies courses in college seemed so disempowering precisely because of the message that we are disenfranchised and shit on. I have never particularly felt that way by virtue of my gender, but I also see that as a luxury not all women have.
In the US, I think it’s the complete lack of knowledge of the rights that women did NOT have as recently as 50 or 60 years ago. I am young enough to have benefitted immensely from women’s lib and also so young as to have the luxury of being completely ignorant that as recently as 1920 women in the US couldn’t vote, and as recently as the 1950’s it was unheard of for a married woman to have her own bank account.
I take issue with the victim mentality I encountered in my women’s studies classes and the general sex negativity as it applies to men (since I still like men). I feel like feminism needs a more optimistic message, such as that contained in this article in order to survive.
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Thanks for the props, Kate.
Really interesting points you bring up. I think you’re absolutely right that it’s easy to get into a victim mindset when talking about prejudice and that we have to stay aware of how far we’ve actually come. I picked up the Feminine Mystique at the library the other day and was really struck by how different 50 or 60 years ago really was. The same happened after reading the novel, The Best of Everything.
While I have felt slighted in my life because of my gender, it doesn’t do me any good to wallow and become disempowered. It’s all about ‘taking the power back’ and staying positive, aware, and proactive.
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Great perspective and analogy with the elephants. It really does seem like the feminist movement has been moved to the backburner. I hope your article and the ones you reference can bring the issue back to the forefront of people’s minds.
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Thanks, man. It’s all about starting the conversation and keeping it going. The elephant analogy rings true to lots of scenarios, including this one.
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Sarah Palin is a siren. She’s stuck up there are a model of whatever, but surely no one really believes she’s a feminist. Certainly Andrew Dworkin or Simone de Beauvoire or Audre Lord wouldn’t think so.
The way I see it is as feminism progresses, it becomes more expansive. While the first wave perhaps sought legal equality for property and suffrage the next focused more on ending discrimination — something far more difficult to quantify. And once you’re talking discrimination, it makes sense to further expand the discussion to include different races and treatment of women in different countries as well.
Sarah Palin does not expand or broaden any of this discussion. I don’t see her looking for great room to move but instead pointing fingers as to who is right and who is wrong in terms of defining current feminism.
Perhaps the feminism of the 1990s no longer exists, but it has been replaced with something else. It’s difficult to pinpoint exactly what that is, though, as I believe, once again, the discussion has once again grown to encompass more complicated and more multifaceted issues.
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I agree; while I can’t pinpoint where feminism is headed, I do know that it has to shift and expand to our zeitgeist. The world is different than it was in the 90s so feminism has to follow suit.
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Thank you for this important article, Nancy.
(And by the way, where have you been? You haven’t blogged in a while! Good to see you again!)↵ -
Thanks, Aelle. You’re so sweet to check up on me. My husband and I just finished moving from NC to VA. Enjoying the TBEX conference right this second.
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Nancy I’m glad you wrote this and I find it intriguing. However, at some points we are at odds. First off, its beena long-time coming and things do not happen over night. Yes, the wage gap has not closed, however, its been getting smaller. The people in the “upper echelon” of society are the result of education from 20 to 30 years ago usually, so we are still seeing how back then there were improvements but not sweeping change to the system. Think what it may look like in a decade, as women quickly become the overwhelming majoirty of degree-seekers and attainers.
Two, you mention that most child care is still done by women. I think at one time in history, this was most certainly a “women’s place” sort of assignment, but I think, for the most part today, women choose and want to be their child’s primary caretaker. It is a tough argument and we may just have to agree to disagree.
I absolutely agree that there is a long way to go, but you are painting a picture so dark, I can’t see any other reason for you writing this besides your anger with christian conservatives. I understand the contradiction between the southern baptists/sarah and being feminist, but there have always been religious women, tits just that now, the conserative religious organizations they are apart of, as a result of feminism, allow them to have so much more power and voice. Women have a strong leadership role in politics and in the country today, and I don’t think that The Atlantic’s article is being fearful of a feminine coup, but are merely stating the truth. Afterall, 30 years ago Soccer Moms were not one of the biggest political blocs in the nation.
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While I agree that feminism is still far from a dead issue, I resent the concept that Sarah Palin is some sort of Stepford wife robot sent by men to destroy the feminist cause. As a matter of fact, a quick breakdown of her traits alongside those of other powerful women would show that she is one of the only TRUE feminists.
Most women today who label themselves feminists seem to feel that in order to be successful, they have to behave like men. This often means stripping themselves of traditional feminine qualities, like their sexuality, their maternal instincts, or their desire to be homemakers. By insinuating that the qualities traditionally associated with women are inferior, these so called “feminists” are in fact insecure sexists themselves!
While I agree that women should not be LIMITED to these qualities or forced into them, if a woman should find pleasure in staying at home and cooking for her family, then she should not be looked down upon. If her love for her family leads her to want to renounce her career and be a homemaker, then let it be CELEBRATED that today, she can do so by choice — and not because there are no other options.
In my opinion, Sarah Palin embodies this spirit of choice. She is considering running for president, she was a successful governor of her state who was ruthless on corruption, she is an expert in the energy field…but at the same time, she is comfortable fighting for her children, dressing like a woman. She does not limit herself with gender stereotypes, but rather, embraces the most favorable traits of BOTH genders.
And when she talks about women being able to foster both aspects of their lives — family and career — I think she is simply showing a lack of condesension toward housewives (something which many feminists are guilty of).
A woman who believes that there is only ONE path to feminism — androgyny — is being condescending to women who choose to stay at home with their families, and are merely being divisive. Rather, we need more women like Sarah who say that true feminism comes from being able to CHOOSE what you want from your life and not be judged for the path you choose.
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