by Kerry Marsala
June 18, 2004
It is a male dominated society by and large and I have no qualms with this. I am not a feminist screamer, I like the door being held open for me, my chair held till I sit, feeling the protection of my male companion, but what I do not like is being overlooked by men as far as my intelligence goes.
There are many women who have brilliant minds. They have the ability to engage in intelligent dialogue, they have studied politics, medicine, culture, business, sociology, etc--just like men. But it would seem within the realm of politics at least, men still cannot grasp the idea of engaging women in discussion or debate without seeming to be uncomfortable, talking down to them or labeling them as a strident, pushy, overt woman.
It amazes me, how men still seem so uncomfortable with women who can match or surpass their intellect.
Reflect back to President Bush's last address to the nation on our war in Iraq. The media was pushing that President Bush had to sell the american people that night or he would lose the people's confidence in what we were doing. The talking heads appeared immediately after his speech, dissecting and slamming our President with what they thought he did or didn’t do to connect with the people.
But one analyst that really began to make me see how men view women in america as still being, well--stupid, was the comment made more than once by Dick Morris. Mr. Morris commented that President Bush needed to connect with women on the topic of terror, and help them understand the threat to them against their families and children. I kept thinking to myself, Dick buddy we get it. Women are savvy enough to understand that 3,000 souls were murdered on 9/11 by terrorists who would as soon as kill you and your kids than look at you. It doesn’t get much plainer, Mr. Morris than this.
I don’t know, maybe Washington and the political he-men are still under the delusion that the women of the Clinton presidency are still hiding in their soccer mom mobiles praying for salvation to come down from former President Bill Clinton. Guess what, soccer is over and women are the back bone, foundation, root system, brick layers, shakers and movers within america's political system. Get over yourselves, men who are hung up on not being able to treat us with the respect and honour we deserve as women of knowledge, guts, wit and strength of mind.
If you are a man running for office, stop talking to just my husband or gentleman friend who is sitting next to me. When I engage you in thought or discussion, stop turning to the man sitting next to me. You need to answer my question, looking at me directly. When I stick out my hand to introduce myself, do not patronize me by giving me a limp hand shake, smile blankly and then firmly shake and engage in your platform for running to my male companion standing next to me. This has happened countless times in the past and quite frankly I, and other women, have had enough! Even if a person isn't as intellectual as you are, or cannot articulate themselves well, do we not owe each other common courtesy?
a few weeks ago, to still shine another beam upon this trend, Bill O' Reilly interviewed ann Coulter on his show, The O' Reilly Factor. at the end of his interview O' Reilly asked Ms. Coulter if it would behoove her to be heard by more people if she wasn’t so strident? Ms. Coulter answered beautifully, 'I don’t think I'm strident. I think I speak the truth and people are attracted to that, and judging by my book sales versus those who are less strident, I think I'm doing pretty well' (No Spin Zone 5/2004).
Strident? ann Coulter, strident? By definition she is anything but, loud, harsh, grating, shrill, or discordant. Perhaps Mr. O'Reilly has been around too many erratic pundits and cannot differentiate between grating shrills and speaking plain unabashed truth.
In the year 2004, women have made great strides politically. We have 74 women serving in the U.S. Congress. In statewide elective executive offices across the country we have 80 women holding offices. In our state legislatures in the United States, we have 1,661 or 22.5% of the 7,382 seats being held by women. Since 1971, the number of women serving in state legislatures has increased more than four-fold (rci Rutgers 2004). These numbers are just women who have their names on their doors or name tags working within our system, this doesn’t come anywhere close to accounting for all the women, like myself, that work tirelessly in the background, without recognition or a paycheck.
Women come in all shapes, colours, and backgrounds. They raise children, feed the hungry, visit the sick, listen to the news, get an education, read, study, take care of their aging parents, help their husbands, teach Bible class, work part time and full time jobs outside their home responsibilities. They teach at the universities, they teach grade school, they develop cures for cancer, and they make phone calls and canvas neighborhoods for their political party affiliation. They cook, drive their kids to baseball practice, and sit on the PTO board. They volunteer to stuff envelopes for the politician they support. They are surgeons, nurses, and doctors. They run for political office, serve as precinct committeemen, join clubs to help care for the premature born babies.
The list of what women do is endless, tireless, and magnificent. But one thing mankind needs to keep in mind is this, we women who do all these things and more, hold one key in particular that is most important to all of you who are running for political office. after all is said and done, we cast our vote. and, last time I checked, on august 26, 1920 a constitutional amendment was adopted when Tennessee ratified it, granting full woman suffrage in all states of the United States.
Women's opinions matter, their intellect should be engaged and respected, but most of all if you really want to win your political aspirations then you need to treat women with the dignity and the esteem they deserve.
(Kerry L. Marsala writes for www.americonservative.com, www.azconservative.org Opinion Editorials; assistant Editor of the GOPUSa/arizona; Independent Newspapers and is a regular contributor to Sarah's Seed Woman's Journal; Focus Magazine and The Truth Magazine. During the 80s Ms. Marsala worked as a freelance photojournalist for The Rock Revue and Newsreel Magazine. Writing about cultural, social and political ideologies by using a bit of satire every now and again helps keep her grey cells stirring. Her philosophy remains that no matter the event, you can always find a bit of humor or the human element of hope somewhere amongst the cracks.)
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