No Woman is Exactly the Same

Dr. Syrett’s presentation on the Equal Rights Amendment was very eye opening. He brought up a very important question that affected women then and today, how can we possibly think that we know what is right for ALL women? I naively believed that of course all women would want equal rights. Dr. Syrett presented a lot of women that had valid reasons for being wary of the 20th amendment and its possible guarantee that all women would be treated equal to men. For example, Florence Kelly did have a very valid reason for opposing the ERA. It could possibly ruin all of her gains in terms of women workers rights. There are so many women in incredibly different sets of circumstances; there is no way to know what is best for someone simply due to her gender. The National Women’s Party did not have the extensive difficulties that working class women did, so they decided to oppose the only real discrimination in their lives due to their gender. I really appreciated not only the humor in Dr Syrett’s presentation, but also the fact that he covered such an extensive time period. It just showed that no matter what time period we are in, you cannot treat women like they are all the same. I was so struck by what Dr Syrett said in regards to gay marriage. He was saying that so many people see their role as husband or wife as their most fundamental role. If gay marriage was seen, by law, as equal to heterosexual marriage, they feel that they would lose the uniqueness of their “special identity”. I had never thought of it in that way. They see gay marriage is a threat to their roles as husband or wife. It was upsetting that the fight for rights always turned into a war of women as opposed to finding a resolution that could work for the most people. I really appreciated Dr Syrett’s thoughts on the “mommy wars” as a distraction from the real problem. That problem being that in our patriarchal society, girls are raised to believe that marriage and motherhood will be their greatest accomplishments whereas boys are raised to believe that their careers will be their greatest accomplishments and therefore, everyone around them needs to sacrifice in order for them to achieve their goals. Like Sarah, I noticed that Palin’s roles as a mother and a wife were brought up quite a bit in the vice presidential debates. It was her way of telling voters, “I’m just like you, I’m a just a middle class wife and mother.” There are two things wrong with that image. Firstly, it is not necessary for the vice president to be just like me. I just want a president who will support the causes I support and deal with the issues I find to be most important. Secondly, Sarah Palin is not like all women. Not all women are trying to be vice president of the United States. Also, her desire to identify with the American wife and mother just detracts from the fact that when it comes down to the issues, she is not looking out for the American women. Why does she think the American woman is so stupid as to believe that just because Palin is a woman, she will stand up for women?