• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

Democratic Senators Patty Murray of Washington and Hillary Clinton of New York blocked the confirmation of Bush nominee Andrew von Eschenbach to head the FDA until the agency stepped up and made emergency contraception available over the counter.13

In 2005, Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius vetoed a bill that would have required state abortion clinics to adopt more rigorous guidelines, saying she won’t get behind legislative action that singles out abortion.14

Maxine Waters, in addition to having an awesome record on women’s rights, cofounded the Los Angeles-based organization the Black Women’s Forum.15

SOME COOL STUFF WOMEN POLITICIANS HAVE SAID:

Former Texas Governor Ann Richards: “Ginger Rogers did everything Fred Astaire did. She just did it backwards and in high heels.”16

Former Congresswoman Bella Abzug: “We are coming down from our pedestal and up from the laundry room. We want an equal share in government and we mean to get it.”17

In a 2004 article, “The Girlie Vote,” Katha Pollitt asks, “Sin when are women—51% of the population—a special interest?” Indeed.

Former Congresswoman Pat Schroeder: “When people ask me why I am running as a woman, I always answer, ‘What choice do I have?’”18

But don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that we should be electing women just by virtue of their having ovaries. Women politicians have definitely been known to fuck over other women.

Democratic Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco, for example, signed a sweeping abortion ban in her state that made all abortion illegal—even in cases of rape and incest. Not cool.

The important thing is that we’re participating—whether it’s by running, voting, or supporting (financially or otherwise) candidates who make a difference for women. Don’t leave shit up to others, ’cause that’s how we get fucked over.

The Difference Young Women Make

The 2004 presidential elections were all about women, in a way. We were told “it’s up to the women”19 to make sure that George W. Bush wasn’t reelected.

Single women were all the rage during that election—yet, of course, they called us Sex and the City voters. Charming. And not at all condescending. (It kills me that even when we have potential power, the media chose to pretty much dismiss us with that name.)

You see, back in 2004, polls showed that single women favored Kerry over Bush by almost 26 percent, while married women preferred Bush.20 But unfortunately, twenty million unmarried women didn’t vote. This isn’t to say we fucked up the election—after all, the Supreme Court picked the president, not us—but it goes to show you the power we had that we just didn’t use.

And why in the world not? Chris Desser, codirector of Women’s Voices. Women Vote., said in 2004 that “one-third of unmarried women polled said their main reason for not voting is that they believe their lives will not improve, no matter who is elected.”21

Kind of sad, but I can see where that trepidation comes from. What have politicians done for us lately, really? Sure, they’ll throw us a bone on repro rights every once in a while, and I definitely love me some VAWA, but it’s hard to feel connected to a political system that generally pays you no mind.

2004 was the the election in which women voted at a higher rate than men in the U.S. president elections.

But the thing is, we can’t let the fact that politicians don’t care about us (for the most part) translate into our not caring about politics. It’s just too damned important. Because it’s really fucked up that laws affecting our lives, at the most personal levels, are being decided overwhelmingly by men.

When Bush signed the “partial birth” ban into effect, someone took a snapshot of him and all the supporting politicians as they hovered around him while he essentially signed away our rights. Guess what? The picture spoke a thousand words—it was all men. Now that’s fucked up.

This isn’t to say that male politicians can’t be allies in women’s rights—Representative Henry Waxman has