The War on Women in 2012?

The new political war is over women. Women are the swing voters of this election and the “war on women” is just the latest rhetoric in the media that is dividing women over issues that are uniquely theirs. Basically, contraception and abortion. But I’m not buying into this war. I’ll tell you why.

 

In the past, there’s been a war on poverty, a war on drugs, a war on the middle class, and now a war on women. What else can they declare war upon? These so-called wars are what you call a smokescreen, a distraction from the real facts about these issues. By framing the context as a WAR, you create the perception of urgency and hostility. There’s got to be a WAR to fix what’s supposedly wrong. But what’s wrong with women?

 

Three facts about women:

• Women are graduating from college more often than men
• Women are now outearning men as well
• Women are the economic decision makers in a household

 

American women today are more likely to earn college degrees than men with women receiving 57% of all bachelor’s and 60% of all master’s degrees.

 

A consequence of that is, lo and behold, the majority of women are primary breadwinners in a household. That’s because 40% of women are single or divorced and support themselves, while 22% of married women earn more than their husbands.

 

Telling these breadwinners that there is a war against them is insulting. It is a throwback to the yesteryear of early feminism that said that women are stuck under the glass ceiling and will always be living under a man’s thumb. In the year 2012, this is poppycock.

 

Demographics don’t lie. Today, around half of all law school graduates are women. Today, around half of medical school graduates are women. Fantastic! This is an awesome accomplishment. It is quite laughable that there is a war against these women.

 

Woman have a huge say in the decision making for a household. Pew Research took a survey and found that of 43% of all couples, it’s the woman who makes the final decisions in more areas than the man. The remaining 57% were divided among having the man making decisions and also joint or mutual decision-making. The decision areas studied were making major purchases, planning weekend activities, controlling the household finances, and commanding the remote control. These are all significant areas.

 

Many women do the grocery shopping, buy the back to school supplies for the kids and research the next car they want to purchase. Women understand economics. Telling them there is a war against them is a cheap shot.  It’s contemptible and outrageous for a women to have to hear this rhetoric in 2012.

 

The way I see it, the  ”war on women” is just another form of political theatre that manipulates the ignorant and innocent and bamboozles women into believing this message. The  message that Obama is trying to have you believe is that the Repubulicans are out to control your body. What he doesn’t realize is that women aren’t believing this message. Women know this election is about the economy, not about women’s social issues. Women have realized this “war” is a farce, a leftist political narrative that assumes women have no other interests in policy, no other dog in the political fight, other than how to regulate a woman’s bodily functions.

 

Being a woman, I find it demeaning that I’m only supposed to care about what the government’s role is in birth control and abortion.  How about the government has NO role in my birth control or choice. The democrats say they are the party of a women’s right to choose, but what about my right to be free to choose and search out the best deal to pay for my own birth control instead of having the government force others to pay for free contraceptives. There’s no choice in force. None. If a woman has a choice on whether to have an abortion, she should have a choice to buy her own birth control, not have it mandated by the government. Choices are liberating. Government mandates are stifling.

 

Why aren’t women buying into the leftist meme of the “war on women? Let’s be honest about what women are doing today, women today are not helpless victims, they are out in the world being successful in their own right.

 

So the next time someone says to you there’s a war on women, tell them you don’t believe this false political message and give them the facts.

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