I read Anna Quindlen's column today in Newsweek eagerly, like I always do. I don't always agree with Quindlen, but at least there is a woman's voice somewhere in a major news magazine. The column this week was fine; not her best, but good enough. It was the last paragraph or two that really got me. Apparently, the constitution of the newly Democratic Iraq calls for 25% of the representatives in the parliament (forgive me for not knowing if they're calling it a congress or parliament or whatnot) to be women. By constitutional law, 25% of these legislators must be women.
Isn't that special? We're exporting a brand of democracy that we don't even subscribe to ourselves. I'm happy for GW, happy that they're throwing his name around as a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (!), happy that his "Bush Doctrine" is apparently bringing some sort of revolutionary spirit to the Middle East. I am. I remain suspicious of the man and his cronies, but we can't really deny that what is happening now is good. I still wish we weren't occupiers, and we still don't know if all of this will be successful, but it's not all bad. Let's just say that.
But isn't it baffling? In a country in the Middle East, in Iraq (while admittedly not the worst country in the Middle East for women's rights, [and in fact I've read some reports (are they true?) that things have gotten worse for women since America has taken up residency in Iraq]), more women will sit in government positions than in this country. This paragon of freedom, this country where we are all about equal rights. Yeah, like the pigs in Animal Farm. Women have voted here for how many years? 85? Don't you think we could elect just a few more women? Oh wait, they have to run first. And that means that they need support. They need support from their local parties, and those local parties, with a few exceptions, I'm sure, are run by white men. It's infuriating.
But then, the party in the majority right now--the party that apparently votes more?--has positively medieval attitudes towards women. I shouldn't be surprised. I'm so sorry if you voted for the Repubs in this last election and you're a woman, because I just don't get it. I don't get how you can vote for a party that is trying to undo everything that we've fought so hard for. Unless you don't use birth control, don't have a job, and never want one, I'm confused. I love when anti-feminist women bash feminists and women with careers, forgetting that wait! they have careers and part of the reason they do is because of feminists. Laura Schlesinger (while certainly not a political figure, per se) loves to tell moms that if they're not staying home, they're evil, ignoring the fact that she has children and doesn't stay home with them.
After all, isn't the message of the modern Repub party "Do as I say, not as I do"? I think so. So anyway, bravo for Iraqi women....do you think they'll come liberate us?
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