Women!

What Do We Want?

There is a debate raging about who is better for women (see, This Week conversation between McCaskill and Fiorina, for example). And who is better to women. Democrats or Republicans? Are Republicans better because John McCain chose Sarah Palin and Barack Obama rejected Hillary Clinton? Are Democrats better because they support policies that support women around the country?

Does a candidate win if he promotes women's rights and issues important to women by promoting and respecting women? Does he win if he supports a woman's right to choose, assistance to women for child care, and equal-pay-for-equal-work legislation?

Is it in the interest of women to have a president who promotes women and pays them well or to have a president who supports legislation to require everyone else to promote women and pay them well?

The answer is yes. Both. All of the above.

Unfortunately, each campaign only gets 50% of the way there when it comes to women. Maybe not even 50%. Promotion at the top is critical. Public respect of women in senior positions is critical. Fixing our system so that issues key to women at every level is critical. There is much to be done.

And what are women's issues, anyway? They are usually defined to include child support, abortion, women's health, child care, equal pay, etc. This drives me crazy! I am a woman and of the things on which I want to see my party's candidate campaign, these do not make the list. How the Iraq War is waged makes my short list. How we defeat the Taliban and other renegades in Afghanistan makes my list. How we defeat Al Qaeda and other terrorists makes my list. How we deal with Russian positioning and aggression makes my list. Whether Israel and Iran get into it makes my list. The proliferation of small and large nuclear arms makes my list. And did I mention that I am a woman?

Global warming, the development of alternative fuels, the creation of a green jobs program, and poor air quality make my short list. Our broken health care system makes my short list. The shrinking of the middle class and the diminishing returns of the American Dream makes my  list. The issues defined as "women's issues" are also important, but they go to the fine tuning of our economy, of our health policy, of the survival of our middle class - they are not the issues on which most voters, including female voters, will be convinced.

Sarah Palin is a good thing for the advancement of women in American society. Not just the fact that she was named, but Gov. Palin herself. (I do have to wonder, however, whether the fact that she is Superwoman is good or bad for women - do we all have to be that incredible, able to work 60+ hours per week while raising our children, returning to work within days of giving birth, managing our offices from our children's sick beds, and so on? Should we have as our example, perhaps, not a superwoman but a mother who receives some help for good child care, whose husband stays at home with the children while she works, who gets paid a bonus even though she leaves work early once in a while to tend to her children? But I digress. . . .)

But if having Gov. Palin on the McCain ticket is good for women, and in many ways I think that it is, having Palin as our Vice President and in a position to influence policy on Roe v. Wade, sex education, and child-care assistance, let alone on Afghanistan, Russia, Iran, global warming, health insurance, and the middle class, would be disastrous for everyone, including the half of the populous who happen to be women.

That's the blessing and curse of women throughout time - more gifts, but with each one comes a price.