Happy Equality Day: We've Come a Long Way. Maybe.

As you can see from the clip above, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand is a very capable, knowledgeable, intelligent woman. I don't live in New York, but from what I've seen and heard and read (in the news and here on MOMocrats), she is doing a terrific job of serving her constituents.

So I could not help but roll my eyes at the news that at a debate this week, one of the men vying to be her opponent in the November election characterized her as "an attractive woman." 

Happy Equality Day, Senator Gillibrand. I bet you thought it was no longer acceptable to dismiss powerful women by focusing on their physical attributes. 

You say you've never heard of Equality Day?

It's may not be an official holiday, but August 26 is an important date in our history. Today is the 90th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment which extended the right to vote to the women of the United States.

To paraphrase a catchy little advertising jingle from my youth: We've Come a Long Way. Maybe.

In 1979, only 3% of the people elected to the US Congress were women. Today, we've got 90 -- including 17 Senators.

That's still less than 17% of 535 seats in the combined chambers of Congress. After all, women make up nearly 51% of the population. We're nowhere near the point where we can claim equal representation.

We have some interesting races going on in my home state of California. We are already represented by two female Senators, with one of them in a heated re-election race against a female opponent.

And if GOP candidate Meg Whitman succeeds in her bid to become Governor, all three of our top elected offices will be filled by women.

My point is that today, women really are a political force. Imagine how much more we could do if we looked beyond what's reported on network news, learned about the issues and actually bothered to vote. It may come as a surprise to MOMocrats readers (who tend to be politically involved), but large numbers of women do not exercise their hard-fought 19th Amendment rights -- especially unmarried women. 

Page Gardner of Women's Voices, Women's Vote writes eloquently on the organization's blog today:

In 2008, of the nearly 51 million unmarried women who were eligible to register to vote, only 35 million did register. That means 16 million women who could have voted did not even register.

Until recently, that figure included Meg Whitman, who famously didn't vote for 28 years.She says she was too focused on family and career to make the time. Sadly, those are the same reasons cited by most women who choose to stay on the political sidelines.

Few of them are billionaires like Whitman, or mere millionaires like Fiorina. I think it's commendable that these two former businesswoman want to serve the people of California. But as I am diametrically opposed to their stance on nearly every issue, they won't get my vote. (Both candidates are anti-choice, pro-Prop 8 and think tax cuts are the solution for everything; Whitman claims she can fix California's $19.1 billion deficit without raising taxes by running the state like a business -- a promise similar to what we heard seven years ago from Arnold Schwarzenegger. And we all know where that has got us.)

I think both Whitman and Senate candidate Carly Fiorina would be nightmares if elected. But I also think true equality means that women have the right to be just as wrong on the issues as some men.

Happy Equality Day!

Donna Schwartz Mills can usually be found on her personal blog about life in Southern California, SoCal Mom.

Comments

[scentsy bars]

I am always suprised when a good friend comments that they didn't vote, or that they don't know who to vote for. Sometimes it makes me wonder how it is that we are friends when it is so important to me to read up on the issues and the candidates, and they don't seem to care. Of course, I pick my friends not at all based on their political leanings, so it doesn't "really" suprise me. I just value that right and take it not only as a priviledge, but as a responsibility.

I liked this post. It is thought provoking and interesting. Thanks!