WOMEN'S HISTORY - MORE
THAN JUST A MONTH
Rudy has tossed
out what the media is calling the first negative ad in the Primaries. Couched
in the "Swift boating" motif, it is directed against Hillary.
Of course Hillary
has been criticized by John, Barack and their wives. All to be expected
since front runners are traditionally targets, but Michele's latest criticism
was troublesome and disappointing.
Despite the fact
that Michelle is an intelligent professional woman who has made many contributions
to her husband's campaign, she has recently become somewhat of a joke;
carelessly saying things about him in interviews and on the stump that
make people feel uncomfortable.
She showed that
same lack of care when referencing Hillary recently. It disappointed her
fans and reflected badly on her as a future possible first lady. As a woman
and an attorney, she should know women's history and be more careful of
what she puts out as facts.
Michelle accused
Hillary of using her gender as a reason for people to vote for her and
declared that Barack did not use his color that way. True, Hillary speaks
to women; to their hopes and fears and mostly to their experiences as women,
sisters, wives and mothers. But just listen to Barack's subject matter,
cadence and voice change when he speaks to a Black audience.
Compare it to when he speaks in the Senate or to mostly White audiences.
Obviously each
candidate uses what they have, what they are. What we fault Michele for
is not knowing or ignoring women's history of oppression in this country.
Most women have lived it or studied it in school. We reference this URL
for her to inform herself, perhaps she can relate to these pages by a sister
attorney: http://www.thelizlibrary.org/read/
Briefly here: Historically,
women were in most ways slaves; they were non citizens; they could not
own property, their children could be taken from them, they were denied
advanced education and they had no protection from maltreatment by fathers,
brothers, husbands or other males, to give a few examples.
However, they went
out and fought for freedom. Women were vocal and instrumental in helping
to abolish slavery. They fought for the right to vote, not just for themselves
but for the recently emancipated slaves. Despite their efforts, Congress
gave the vote only to Black MEN.
That oversight of
history will not soon be forgotten by either black or white women. They
see in their daily lives even today that there is a tenuous connection
between the laws assuring their equality/freedom and reality. It's not
a question of women and men taking turns for jobs or office. For many of
us it is a question of equal treatment or even survival.
This country's massive
media continues to ignore the plight of women in military schools, bases
and foreign postings; women who have been mistreated, assaulted and raped
by the very officers they are forced to obey under the military code.
Cartoonist Garry
Trudeau, almost alone, has addressed this problem again and again. In his
latest strip on this subject: Iraq veteran, rape victim, Melissa, is pictured
speaking with her counselor who observes that the army did not protect
her.
Melissa agrees
and adds that she was still ordered to work with her abuser even after
she had reported his abuse. Then she tells of how she was cleaning her
weapon one day and he came in. She pointed the gun at him without thinking
and it froze him. For a brief time he experienced feeling absolutely powerless.
Then she lowered the gun and walked away. She observed that it was "the
closest I ever came to Justice".
Many women in America
still face similar situations in the workplace, on the streets and even
in their homes. They know what the laws have promised, laws that their
government has continued to overlook or neglect to enforce. It is unthinkable
that anyone campaigning for women's votes would trivialize it.
gapperserve-at-peoplepc.com
http://gendergappers.blogspot.com
2007-039
Copyright
2007 Renee T. Louise and Ruth M. Sprague, Ph.D. These articles may be republished
for noncommercial use only, provided that they are copied intact, and that
this copyright notice is attached. Address all queries to: gapperserve@peoplepc.com.
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n d e r G a p p e r s T
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