The GOPs Mixed Message to Mom
Posted September 4th, 2012 by Liz O'Donnell
Mitt Romney (Photo credit: NewsHour)
The Republican National Convention concluded last week after Mitt Romney accepted his party’s nomination and not before Republicans made a desperate attempt to court women voters. The convention featured an impressive lineup of female speakers including former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, New Hampshire Senator Kelly Ayotte, New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez and of course, Ann Romney who talked about mothers saying, “You are the best of America. You are the hope of America. Tonight we salute you and sing your praises.” Romney himself mentioned the word “mom” at least ten times in his acceptance speech. But speeches and theatrics can’t overcome GOP policies that are decidedly not female-friendly.
Remarkably, we find ourselves agreeing with something New Jersey Governor Chris Christie said in an interview with CBS. Christie told Charlie Rose, “I think it’s condescending to women to say we have to have a different message for women than we have for men.” We do too. It’s not about saying “mom” a lot. It’s about the policies.
Take Ann Romney’s message, which felt more patronizing than condescending. She told us “women sigh more than men,” and “mothers work a little harder.” She told us her husband makes her laugh. And then her husband struck up his “motherhood is the most important job” message again as he sang his wife’s praises.
Women, and mothers in particular, already know about our busy lives. We know how much we love our children. We know how hard we work. And we know that the policies that will have an impact on our families include equal pay for equal work, paid sick leave and a woman’s right to choose. We know that those are family issues, not women’s issues. And those are the messages we’re listening for. But we’re not hearing them.
Romney’s running mate Paul Ryan wants to move the debate away from these so-called social issues and focus on the economy. When Brian Williams asked him before the convention, “Are you prepared to leave this gathering and own the fact that the platform of this party allows a woman who has been raped no exception but to carry that child to term?” He deflected the question and said. “You know, I think what suburban women are mostly worried about is jobs.” He went on to say, “Women are worried about the education of their children, they’re worried about economic growth and opportunity. They’re worried about the fact that we’re mortgaging their kids’ futures. So, that’s what most women are asking us about.”
Romney has also tried to redirect the national debate toward the economy and take the focus off hot-button topics like contraception and abortion. But women know social issues are economic issues. We know access to contraception and resources for family planning allow us, and our spouses, to make informed decisions about our education, our family and how and when we go to work. We know that as breadwinners if we are paid less than our fair share, if we don’t have family-friendly policies that allow us to balance our many responsibilities, it is our families, and the economy, that will suffer.
If Republicans want to salute the mothers of America, if they want to sing our praises and win our votes, they should stop talking about “mom” and start legislating for her.
This post is adapted from the original at Hello Ladies.
8 Comments
September 10, 2012 at 12:30 pm by Leigh SmithAlthough I appreciate your viewpoint and anecdotes, I have to respectfully disagree with you, TSmama.
A really quick fact-finding search yields some small polls that show 20%[1] to approaching 25% of Republicans[2] oppose, are unsure, or say “it depends” for abortions in cases of rape or incest. (Curiously, in the latter referenced poll, they are more supportive of abortion when the mother’s life is in danger. Perhaps this smacks of the question, in some GOP supporters’ minds at least, of whether the rape is “legitimate” or not.) Although it is a minority, 20% to 22% is not a minuscule percentage of the party; nonetheless, I don’t have a free moment to dig really deeply into this issue and find further polls, but I think this effect would be at least the same, if not magnified, in larger polls of all voters (including Republicans) as well as in GOP-specific polls.
Then there are also the outliers, if you will, in the Republican party. Their voices, though perhaps a minority (but certainly they are loud), are just not something you’d find echoed in a progressive party in the United States. These are the GOP people who think, for instance, that women should be convicted of homicide if they obtain abortions, even in cases of rape or incest (http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/09/04/790351/gop-senate-candidate-supported-life-sentences-for-rape-victims-who-obtain-abortions/?mobile=nc). Then there are GOP legislators in some states, like Texas and Virginia and Oklahoma, who think that girls or women seeking abortions, even in cases of rape or incest, should undergo the further trauma of a vaginal ultrasound (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/21/us/virginia-bill-requiring-ultrasound-before-abortion-nears-vote.html). There are–perhaps most sickening of all–even GOP legislators/candidates who think that girls who are incest survivors should ‘make lemons from lemonade’ and just have the baby (http://theweek.com/article/index/204825/sharron-angle-fatally-gaffe-prone). Even if these people are in the minority, they are nonetheless strongly represented and certainly not shunned or censured by the party platform.
On the issue of contraception, some other polls show that Republicans overwhelmingly did not support the policy that employers–including religious ones–had to provide contraceptive or birth control healthcare coverage to employees.[3]
I won’t even delve into Paul Ryan’s stance regarding abortion, even in cases of rape or incest. (Needless to say, his view is in line with Akin’s.)
It is just as well, then, given all these repugnant stances, that the Republicans might not want to be forthright about these issues and instead deflect to empty-minded toadyism of the worst sort: paying lip service to moms, without legislating on our behalf, in the hopes of garnering our votes.
I think that perhaps you, TSmama, may be one of the few remaining moderate Republicans who would support abortion in some instances. Otherwise, if there are very many moderates who self-identify as Republicans, they don’t seem to be well represented in the polls.
As to the economics and equal-pay issues, it seems clear to a lot of people that Republicans don’t have women’s best interests at heart, unless said women are multimillionaires. What good is a job to me and, more importantly, to future generations–I always try to ask, anyway–if the regulations have been rolled back so much so that all this country produces is tax cuts (especially for the wealthy), (dirty) coal, people don’t have any or good health insurance, the jobs that do exist are mostly rubbish jobs that pay $8/hour (and Republicans certainly won’t vote to raise the minimum wage), and/or the air, water, and land are fouled beyond repair (not to mention the climate–yes, Republicans, climate change is human-caused and supported by an overwhelming majority of scientists).
So, yes, I strongly disagree with you, TSmama, that Republicans have a better plan for this country, whether that’s the women in this country or the men or the children or the elderly or the disabled or the poor or the middle class or …
[1] 20% oppose all abortion: Gallup, 2012, at http://www.gallup.com/poll/154838/Pro-Choice-Americans-Record-Low.aspx
[2] CNN/ORC Poll. Aug. 22-23, 2012. N = 1,055 adults nationwide. Margin of error ± 3. At http://www.pollingreport.com/abortion.htm
[3] CNN/ORC Poll. Feb. 10-13, 2012. N=1,026 adults nationwide (margin of error ± 3), including 228 Catholics (margin of error ± 6.5). At http://www.pollingreport.com/abortion.htm
[Reply]
Anonymous Reply:
September 18th, 2012 at 6:13 pm
@Leigh Smith,
Nice job floating all the strawmen out there surrounding the Neanderthal positions of the Republican party towards abortion. I especially liked your comments about Virginia and other states who think that girls or women seeking abortions, even in cases of rape or incest, should undergo the further trauma of a vaginal ultrasound first. I can’t imagine why anyone who was considering having surgical instruments and suction devices shoved into their birth canal to dismember and extract their offspring would consider it a violation if a vaginal ultrasound was performed first. The vaginal ultrasound appears to be the least of the procedures that would cause a woman to feel violated.
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Leigh Smith Reply:
September 19th, 2012 at 11:51 am
@Anonymous: My reply was to TSMama; she has shown herself to be entirely capable of forming opinions and responding to comments. So, I’m not sure how I could be floating a strawman to(ward) you. I had no idea what your opinions were when I was composing my reply. As to my response to TSMama, I challenge you to find that I’ve said TSMama supports a survivor of incest–for one of my real-world examples–having to “make lemons out of lemonade.” In fact, I was at pains to say that those voices within the GOP are outliers (thank goodness).
That said, Liz’s original article brought up the valid issue of abortion in the cases of rape. I did not pull this issue out of the ether. In addition, TSMama also wrote (and thus believes) that “a minority percentage of Republicans are against abortion for rape victims or in instances where they need to be done to save the life of the mother.” As I showed in my reply, a cursory review of the data does not quite bear this out. Fortunately, it is a minority opinion, but 1/5 or more–some 20% (up to about 23%)–of self-identified Republicans have made that an issue well worth (re)visiting, and not only at election time. Also, I’m not convinced, as TSMama is–and no one can fully predict this one, obviously–that Republicans would not move to outlaw abortion completely. Many don’t cotton to Roe v. Wade, so there is certainly some precedent to indicate they might move to outlaw abortion in the United States (as seemed to have happened with the GOP victories in 2010: http://www.guttmacher.org/statecenter/updates/2011newlaws.pdf), no matter the circumstances, if they were elected to additional posts including the presidency or Supreme Court.
@Anonymous, we’re just going to have to agree to stringently disagree here. Your argument that a woman or girl “considers having … devices shoved into their birth canal” is specious at best. Actions (even violations) have consequences; surely you’d agree that this is so. The girl or woman who was raped or molested did not choose to be violated by her attacker–did she? And, so, in the case of a rape, an action beyond a woman’s or girl’s control set into motion some unfortunate consequences (for her, anyway). She became pregnant. Should the raped woman or girl have thought, prior to the crime, “oh, I’ve got to make sure I’m using contraceptives in case I’m raped someday?” The onus is not on her with regard to contraception; the onus is (or was, prior to the crime) on the perpetrator to follow the law and not violate human dignity by raping someone.
The fact that, in your words, “Neanderthal” stances exist within the Republican party is not a situation of my creation. These comments happened; I’m merely providing sources and data to corroborate that. When someone presents data with which you disagree, if you wish to present no refuting data or malign the people who’ve experienced the situation (anecdotal data, if you will), that’s entirely up to you.
Finally, @Anonymous, I’d also be interested to know your opinion on what should happen (or what does in reality happen) to the children borne of rape or incest. Do you think most policy-makers in the Republican party would agree to providing lifelong mental health services or even temporary foster care or–if needed–drug/alcohol counseling, Medicaid, or Pell grants (etc.) to these children as they mature and learn about the circumstances of their conception?
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I respect your opinion, Liz, but as someone who took the time to watch all of the speeches from the RNC on CSPAN, not listening to the pundits, and as someone who researches government policies to stay informed, I respectfully disagree with you on several points.
First, the Ann Romney comment “mothers work a little harder” hit home with me. As a full time working mom, with two small children, and a wife whose husband had major surgery this year, I felt like “finally, someone is saying women work harder” because we do! And I certainly have this year.
As far as the abortion debate, my personal opinion is pro-choice for first trimester only. However, please note that a minority percentage of Republicans are against abortion for rape victims or in instances where they need to be done to save the life of the mother. To actually believe that Republicans will outlaw abortion in these instances is absolutely ludicrous and deceiving to readers. In fact, abortion is always typically a low-level issue for Republican policies and will never be outlawed on a federal level. It only seems to be an issue when Democrats bring up the issue around campaign time with scare tactics on women.
As far as economic policies for mothers, sorry, but Republicans have a better plan for this mother. I am a mother who wants to start a small business so that I can have a more flexible schedule to be with my children. I am sorry, but an equal pay regulation will not help me and could potentially hurt me. I work harder than the guy next to me and make more money than he does. Would the policy force my employer to drop my salary? One has to wonder. Plus, a regulation concerning the salaries of women could prevent businesses from hiring women because they may not want to take the risk of getting in trouble with the government. The best solution for mothers who think they are not being paid fairly (which I know, many aren’t…) is to show it with their feet and find another job with an employer who values them. The job in which I received the best salary was when I worked for a female employer. We need to empower more women to become business executives and owners…that is the solution to equal pay. Not some government regulation.
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Anita Reply:
September 4th, 2012 at 1:54 pm
@TSmama, Thanks for sharing your thoughtful comment.
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Mo Reply:
September 4th, 2012 at 6:24 pm
@TSmama,
Amen woman!!
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Liz Reply:
September 4th, 2012 at 8:23 pm
@TSmama, Thanks for taking the time to comment. We see some things differently – i think the amount of legislation introduced in the last year and related to reproductive rights speaks volumes. And I see the Fair Pay Act, not as something that legislates women’s wages, but as something that helps women seek their due. But we do have common ground: I watch all of my political coverage on CSPAN too. There is always something that connects us – let’s hope our leaders find those connections and work together.
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Huh? So when do women start addressing the patronizing that comes from the DNC? The DNC is offering to pay our contraception (approximately $15/mo) and support our right to kill our offspring at a whim, and we return this patronage with religious devotion to this cause. The DNC uses lofty language of fair wages and work environments, but yet practice wage discrimination within the staff of this White House administration. I am tired of the cheap talk from the DNC, especially when you have republican candidates that have successful marriages and honor the women in their lives. If we continue to cling to one party as representing us, we will end up being taken for granted and only offerred hollow promises, free birth control, and unfettered access to infanticide. We are more than just walking wombs; but that is what appears to be the focus on the women’s movement from the DNC.
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