It goes without saying that Hillary Clinton’s historic run for the White House had a tremendous impact. Now, women are prepared to get into the driver’s seat and contribute a fresh take on a wide array of matters from equal pay and reproductive rights, to the economy and international affairs.
Women, to a much greater extent than men, depend upon services paid for by the government. With tax cuts promised by both candidates, the increase in the deficit may affect the revenues needed to fund those programs vital to women.
Augmenting McCain’s commitment to overturn Roe v. Wade, Palin ratcheted up the discourse with her position of no abortion exceptions in the case of rape or incest. “She can’t keep the women’s vote if they actually know what she is suggesting,” was the popular wisdom. Yet, there were a lot of female voters who weren’t clear about her record. That’s when a core group of women, using new media and an approach that has defined the 2008 election, jumped in to present another point of view.
Feminists have often been accused of not having a sense of humor (How could they survive without one?), but this relaxed event had laughs to spare. Before the eight female stand-up comics strutted their stuff, I asked several people what they had found funny in 2008. They had to think hard.
With the understanding that women do not getting their narratives adequately told – if told at all – the need for a fresh playing field is palpable. In the new media, women have an opportunity to create their own communities and their own brands.
Carolyn M. Byerly, Associate Professor at Howard University, questioned if the press was “meeting its social responsibility” to provide coverage of issues and events that affect women’s status. She emphasized, “You can’t underestimate the invisibility of women.”
Telling the audience, “I don’t fear being black or being female,” she identified herself as being willing and able to “tell the truth to power.”
I interviewed Joan Blades by telephone to get her reaction to Palin — who actively references her role as a mother. “We haven’t heard her agenda yet,” Blades told me. “The focus needs not to be on [her] personal family issues, but what she would do as Vice President.”
Inevitably, during the Q & A, inquiries were posed about the latest polls and the Sarah Palin factor. Gandy replied that “polls will shift” when people find out more about Palin’s record. On an ironic note, Gandy opined, “I love it that the Republicans have discovered sexism. Before that…it was whining.”
On a visceral level, as a single Mother, I resent the Republican appropriation of the “family values” brand. I feel more connected with a man, Joe Biden, who questioned whether he should take his seat in the U.S. Senate after his wife and daughter were killed in a car crash.
"The Jump Rope Line" by Marcia G. Yerman is included in the Seal Press anthology Dancing at the Shame Prom.
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