When I was born, the world was a different place. Oddly enough, the states of Hawaii and Alaska, both strongly connected to two of our current candidates, had not yet been admitted to the Union. Almost all the black people with whom I came into contact either did manual labor, or watched over other people's children. And women? Well. We've come a long way, baby.
As a kid, I well remember discussions of careers. Men became lawyers, doctors and accountants. Women became teachers, nurses - or they spurned careers altogether. Most of my friends' moms did not work outside their homes. "Homemaker" really was a full time job for them.
Girlfriends of mine who tried to get insurance policies were turned down if they didn't have a man around to sign for them. Buying a house or a car solo was tough. And then there was the plain old prejudice about our intelligence and our abilities. When working in the home office of a large corporation in Chicago at a summer job prior to college, most days I would finish my assignments by 2PM or so. Sitting at my desk looking busy and pushing papers around was not my thing. Thus, I went to my boss to see if other tasks were available for me to do. I had noticed a few jobs available in the office, and mentioned those to him as possibilities.
"Oh, that's a good idea," Mr. Boss responded. "Actually, men get rather bored with that sort of work. But, it's perfect for women. They can do that repetitive sort of work." Well. I needed that summer job. So, I used immense restraint, and did not unleash a string of invective at Mr. Boss as to what I thought about his assessment of my intelligence and abilities.
I and all the women of my age remember the battles. Before us, women had to fight to be able to get the vote and be regarded as something other than chattel. For my generation, the goals were to earn the right to be treated as legal and intellectual equals with men; work at the same jobs and live our lives - with or without men at our sides.
For me, however, "feminism" meant simply freedom for women. If they wished to be corporate attorneys or heart surgeons, great. If they wished to start their own business, be it manufacturing widgets, designing clothing or selling real estate - go for it! Artists? Athletes? Policewomen? Engineers? Plumbers? Yes! And - if they instead wanted to be "only" (ahem) moms and housewives, then that, too, would be respected and admired.
Too often, though, it seems as if others have a very different vision of what feminism was supposed to be. Victor Davis Hanson admirably describes this.
Women in the workplace did not look for special favors. And they surely did not wish to deny innately feminine differences. Instead, they asked only that men should not establish arbitrary rules of the game that favored their male gender.
Soon radical changes in American attitudes about birth control, abortion, dating, marriage and health care became, for some, part and parcel of women's liberation. But in its essence feminism still was about equality of opportunity, and so included women of all political and religious beliefs.
That old definition of feminism is now dead. It has been replaced by a new creed that is far more restrictive -- as the controversy over Sarah Palin attests. Out of the recent media frenzy, four general truths emerged about the new feminism:
First, there is a particular class and professional bent to the practitioners of feminism. Sarah Palin has as many kids as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, she has as much of a prior political record as the once-heralded Rep. Geraldine Ferraro, who was named to the Democratic ticket by Walter Mondale in 1984 -- and arguably has as much as, or more executive experience than, Barack Obama. Somehow all that got lost in the endless sneering stories about her blue-collar conservatism, small Alaskan town, five children, snowmobiling husband and Idaho college degree.
Second, feminism now often equates to a condescending liberalism. Emancipated women who, like Palin, do not believe in abortion or are devout Christians are at best considered unsophisticated dupes. At worse, they are caricatured as conservative interlopers, piggybacking on the hard work of leftwing women whose progressive ideas alone have allowed the Palins of the world the choices that otherwise they would not now enjoy.
When Hillary Clinton uttered her infamous statement, "I suppose I could have stayed home and baked cookies," she immediately put the world on notice as to which women really "mattered" and which did not. If a woman didn't go out and get a high powered career - then what could you really say about someone who just stayed home and performed mundane tasks like cookie-baking and raising her children?
Was feminism ever really nothing more nor less than women being able to follow their dreams? Was it ever really an effort to gain freedoms for women - irrespective of how they chose to exercise those freedoms?
Sometimes I wonder.
For another viewpoint, here is Jonah Goldberg on the same topic.
And me? I'd just like to see a world where we can decide what we'd like to do with our lives - and then try to fulfill those goals. You know; the way that classical liberals used to believe.
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