Is Sarah Palin a Feminist?
Linda Martín Alcoff and Sarah K. Miraglia
John McCain is clearly trying to portray his campaign as progressive on gender issues by his choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate, but you can't make a chauvinist pig any less so by adding lipstick on the ticket.
We have been teaching gender issues and feminist theory for many years, and we know that there is certainly a diversity of views among women, and men, about what counts as feminist or as good for women. Some may see a competent woman running for V.P as inevitably a step forward for women's equality. But consider this.
First, a woman who supports the war and supports Republican economic policies while opposing universal health coverage will harm millions of women in this country if elected. Women bear the brunt of economic slumps since we are still routinely paid less and we more often have sole childcare responsibilities. We often work in sectors of the labor market that are less likely to have health benefits. A spike in domestic violence has been a fallout of the war because soldiers are coming home with insufficient mental health benefits.
Second a woman who opposes reproductive freedom and responsible sexual education will disrupt and harm women's lives. When contraception is not available, it is women who bear the brunt not only in pregnancy but in greater vulnerability to serious STD's and HIV infection. Women in fact do not have a choice, as men do, whether or not to be involved in the pregnancy, childbirth, and childrearing that their sexual activity may result in. Women, including teenagers, need the knowledge and the tools to make responsible and moral decisions about such events that will certainly have such an impact ont heir lives.
Third, anyone who believes that abstinence education can avoid these adverse effects is living in la-la land. A significant percentage of our society will continue to have sex outside of marriage. Young women still report a stigma for using contraception, and so then sometimes have unprotected sex. Contraception itself is not foolproof. Epidemic proportions of women and girls continue to suffer from rape. If 11 year old Erin Maxwell, who was recently raped and murdered in our community, had survived her rape and become pregnant, Sarah Palin would favor forcing her to carry the child to term. Forcible childbirth and coerced parenthood is bad for children, for families, for communities, and for schools.
Fourth, putting a vastly under-qualified woman into a traditional male profession will make it more difficult for women as a whole to break that glass ceiling. Palin rejects global warming and accepts creationist myths about how old the earth is, two issues about which there is no scientific debate. She equates being able to see Russia from her home state with foreign policy experience. She neither has the knowledge base nor the evident skills of analysis to perform this job.
McCain's campaign is trying to portray Palin as an everyday woman, not an elite, who can relate to working mothers who have been disrespected and underestimated their whole lives. As two women from working class backgrounds, we can understand the intense need to see a women like us respected and in leadership positions. But this candidate will not help us.
Linda Martín Alcoff, Professor of Philosophy and Women's Studies, former Director of Women's Studies
Sarah Miraglia, Ph.D. Candidate in Sociology, Assistant Director of Women's Studies