Loading ...Madison McCulloch
Sarah Palin is many things. She is a mother of five, a beauty pageant contestant, an Alaskan governor and potentially the next vice- president of the United States. But if there is one thing she is not, it’s a feminist.
On August 29 John McCain announced that he had chosen Palin as his running mate for the 2008 election and the political world was in shock. There was a method to his madness. McCain is not unintelligent; he knew he needed to overshadow the mania surrounding his opponent Barack Obama, the first African American Democrat leader. He knew that Hillary Clinton supporters were infuriated with their candidate’s loss.
McCain discovered a way to win over the women that supported Mrs. Clinton and attract attention. He found Palin, hoping she would to fill the hole that senator Clinton left in the hearts of American women when she conceded and help to acquire votes from women around the country looking to make history with a female in the White house.
McCain’s strategy worked. For weeks Palin and the Republican campaign were splattered throughout the media. Every major news outlet was sounding off on the decision.
Once the dust settled and Palin began to interact with the public it became very clear that she was not the woman we wanted making history or the woman that would stand up for our rights. Yet Palin told Katie Couric that she considers herself a feminist.
Palin has openly admitted that abortion should be illegal with no exceptions for women who have been subjected to rape or incest. The right to have control over one’s body is a fundamental aspect of the feminist movement and one that required many hard fought battles to achieve. Palin simply believes that these women should be counselled to, “choose life, despite horrific, horrific circumstances.”
Palin also came to the conclusion that abstinence was the only way to go about teaching (or not teaching) sex education. Yet the governor says she endorses the use of contraceptives. Is anyone else confused?
Even more baffling is her stance on the morning-after pill, Palin says she, “would not choose to participate in that kind of contraception”.
Choose a side Palin, as a “feminist,” you can’t straddle both sides of an issue that drastically affects so many women.
Palin has a past of cutting funding for young mothers. In Alaska she cut funds by 20 percent for Covent House Alaska a safe haven for pregnant teens and a program that provided girls with the resources and tools to pull their life back together. I am truly saddened by Palin’s obvious neglect of these girls. Even after the discovery of her 17 year old daughter Bristol’s unplanned pregnancy, Palin has failed to acknowledge the importance of support and funding for teen mothers.
Sarah Palin was famously quoted in a speech with McCain as saying a vote for the Republican Party would, “shatter that glass ceiling once and for all.” Palin was referring to the ceiling that Clinton cracked during her groundbreaking campaign. With the election looming a vote for Palin will give America their first female vice – president but the wrong woman will be in office. With Palin in the White House, we girls better not hold our breaths waiting for that glass ceiling to shatter any time soon.
Image © Anne de Haas/iStockphoto
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