When Ann Romney became the target of Democratic Strategist Hilary Rosen for "not working a day in her life" the war on women began in earnest, sparking a firestorm on not only women, but their families as well. See http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/04/12/democrat-defends-ann-romney-comments-amid-firestorm/?hpt=hp_t2.
As a key voting block, women are imporant to the upcoming November 2012 Presidential election, and political strategists generally know that. See http://www.cnn.com/2012/04/12/politics/campaign-wrap/index.html?hpt=hp_t2. Now an apology has been issued by Rosen, understanding the potentially deep divide those remarks have created. See http://www.cnn.com/2012/04/12/politics/campaign-wrap/index.html?npt=NP1.
Ann Romney represents women who have placed a high value on parenting and family. To be derided for that is to target the entire institution of the family. See remarks about this on CBN Newswatch on Thursday, April 12:
The real "war on women" is a war on marriage, family, parenting priorities, and gender equality in the context of a struggling economy and a divisive political landscape. Women's voices in November could make all the difference to the future of America, and to the future of family strength.
Working with the Center for Global Justice: 3L Reflections
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By Anne Darby Keating 3L Reflections Working with the Center of Global
Justice during my time at Regent University School of Law has been such a
blessing...
Ms. Rosen's comments are a product of the self-hatred many women are taught to have against traditional female/mother roles. We have become a society that devalues one of the most important and hardest jobs in the world, that of being a mother. I am not trying to devalue Ms. Rosen's career, but at least she has the luxury of stepping away from her maternal duties to engage in work outside the home. She gets a "break." Also, just because a woman's job is solely to run a household, that does not mean she has no clue about the "real world." If anything, she may have more insight as to what families need and what it takes to meet those needs. In the end, everyone needs to stop bashing what's different and realize we all have different paths to walk. Let people be.
ReplyDeleteSince this blog post is more of an "open-ended" posting relating to the war on women generally, rather than on any one specific issue, I'd like to take a sidebar to discuss something which I continue to find troubling in our society - the accountability of men. Rather than a society that forces women to be the ones to take birth control or to "protect" the reproductive rights of women, why aren't we focusing more on making men accountable? If a man has promiscuous sex, he's just being a man, however, if a woman does it, she will be called any number of vulgar names. What do we as a society propose by always putting the burden of birth control/abortion on women? Are we saying that women aren't allowed to enjoy their sexuality as much as men? I think the solution to these problems is to make men more accountable, and by accountable, I mean families teaching their sons to be respectful of women, to see women as creative and co-equal counterparts, not sex objects. We need to make men aware of the fact that just because abortion and birth control are available, it doesn't lessen their need to think twice before having unprotected sex with a women who is not their spouse. These values can only be instilled in the home - a man who is not taught to treat his mother/ sister with respect, will never treat any woman with respect. It's time to start holding men responsible for birth control/ abortion too, and not just women.
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