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Women’s rights are
human rights?
Stephen Henry Lewis,
United Nations’ envoy for HIV AIDS in Africa, 2006, said:
“[Women's rights have] never been made real, and so long as men control the levers and bastions of power… it never will be real. The demeaning diminution of women is everywhere evident… where freedom from sexual violence, the right to sexual autonomy, to sexual and reproductive health, social and economic independence, and even the whiff of gender equality are barely approximated. It’s a ghastly, deadly business, this untrammeled oppression of women in so many countries on the planet.”
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Remember the Ladies
Conventional Wisdom Works
The recent HBO docudrama John Adams is sure to be award-winning. The seven-part series is about our Founding Fathers, and it is, after all, an election year. So blow the fifes and beat the drums because the good old boys, plus one female, are on the march to the polls once again.
For the first time in his-story, there’s a 50-50 chance that a woman will be in the running for the position of running the country in November. Some might say the ruining of the country. However, the very thought of a ‘Madame President’ would’ve seemed ludicrous to our Founding Fathers.
For all practical purposes, John Adams and his wife Abigail inhabited two separate worlds. She was a stay-at-home wife and mother on their farm in Massachusetts; he was a highly-respected attorney which led to his appointment as ambassador to The Netherlands and Great Britain.
While their husbands were away (sometimes for years) politicking or creating militia, the wives of the Founding Fathers were at home tending the children, the livestock, the crops, the budget, and the educational and spiritual development of family members. Abigail bore six children and was preceded in death by three of them.
And yet, Abigail made time for her own views and opinions to be known. She “was an advocate of married women's property rights and more opportunities for women, particularly in the field of education. Women, she believed, should not submit to laws not made in their interest, nor should they be content with the simple role of being companions to their husbands. They should educate themselves and thus be recognized for their intellectual capabilities, so they could guide and influence the lives of their children and husbands. She is best known for her March 1776 letter to John Adams and the Continental Congress, requesting that they
...remember the ladies, and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the Husbands. Remember all Men would be tyrants if they could. If particular care and attention is not paid to the Ladies we are determined to foment a Rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any Laws in which we have no voice, or Representation.
To this, John answered:...as to your extraordinary code of laws, I cannot but laugh...” Refer About Lynne page, video career, PBS documentary.
When George Washington was elected first President of the United States, John Adams became our first Vice-President. After eight years in that position, he was then elected President for a four-year term. Abigail “is regarded as the first Second Lady of the United States and the second First Lady of the United States though the terms were not coined until after her death…. She took an active role in politics and policy…. She was so politically active that her political opponents came to refer to her as “Mrs. President.” Refer Wikipedia
Eldest son, John Quincy Adams followed in his father’s footsteps as (sixth) President of the United States, the only son of a former President to hold office until George W. Bush in 2001. And yet, despite the Adams’ frequent disagreements when together, they complimented each others’ roles throughout their fifty-four year marriage for the greater good of their family, community, nation, and world. Unfortunately, not enough historical credit is given the invisible women who were the backbones of our Founding Fathers and of our Nation.
Gender Role Reversal
In Slate.com’s video, XX Factor, three women are discussing the two democratic candidates, Hillary and Barack, as if the pair is running for Homecoming King and Queen. But there’s a glitch in both personas that has the women, their party leaders, and potential voters scratching their heads and wondering why they can’t yet decide for whom to vote.
The women participants seem perplexed as to which of these candidates is acting more masculine (XY) and which is acting more feminine (XX). And yet the deliberating women refer to themselves as ‘guys’ even though viewers can see they are clearly female. Is it any wonder voters are confused?
Hillary’s wavering behavior of crying one minute and acting like a tough guy the next, and Barack’s covert but inclusive flirtatious charisma has everyone wondering just how far outside normal gender behavior the candidates will venture in order to keep us all guessing. We’re just not accustomed to these mixed gender signals in the public political arena!
Meanwhile the Republicans rest on their laurels for having given America eight long years of its worst president in history. McCain, their geriatric, but militarily-seasoned masculine candidate, looks stellar in comparison. Perhaps the McCain team is hoping Dem constituents will stay so busy being divided between white female and black male that they’ll throw up their hands in surrender and vote for the familiar—white militant male.
The Founding Fathers didn’t have such problems. There wasn’t a woman to be found in our Constitutional Conventions (not even secretaries, as they were all male). Despite their absence, women were influential, as Abigail so well proved from behind her apron by day and from under her nightcap at night. Her adoring husband often praised her intelligence, and frequently admitted to his closest friend, Thomas Jefferson, his dependence upon her advice, guidance, and feminine wisdom.
However, political issues in the early days were certainly not gender oriented as they are today: abortion, same gender marriage, equal rights to employment and education…but were mostly about rules of governance, checks and balances, foreign relations, and solvency of the new republic. Still, it took eleven years after declaring independence from the British Crown in 1776 for the Constitution to be drafted, completed, and ratified.
Freedom’s Balance Sheet
The docudrama’s historical portrayal of daily life in the new world is a good reminder of just how far we’ve come as a nation, albeit dragging our dissident gender realities along with us. They are a good reminder of just how much we’re still stuck in the Victorian vector of Bubbaville.
The freedom cards are still stacked against females through patriarchal traditions and customs, best summarized in seven words: “A girl child is never a child.” We die having spent our lives doing 67% of the work for 10% of the benefits. (Read more about this in my new e-book, Cinderella’s Coffin: How men control the fate of women and girls, and what women can do about it.)
It seems shameful and ironic that females are yet to be considered equally or fully included in our Nation’s freedoms. Especially as some of the freedoms are eroding before we’re allowed access to them.
Is freedom “just another word for nothin’ left to lose”? Our Founding Fathers and Mothers would turn over in their graves if they were here to witness the mockery that has been made of their early sacrifices to preserve the individual freedoms of all people.
Check this list to determine which of these freedoms we’ve never had or are most endangered:
Freedom from war.
Freedom of speech.
Freedom to disagree.
Freedom from religion.
Freedom and justice for all.
Freedom of gender equality.
Freedom of personal privacy.
Freedom to vote without persecution.
Freedom from non-legislated taxation.
Freedom to hold public officials accountable.
Freedom from political and religious double standards.
Freedom of the people, by the people, and for the people.
Although voting booths and machines are said to be private, the world will be watching in November to see where our values truly lie. If having this audience looking over our shoulders is not intimidating enough, some will say that there is a great pair of patriarchal eyes in the sky watching every check mark made and every lever pulled. Quite frankly, I’d rather have Abigail Adams looking out for women’s interests.
#0046
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