A lot of ink has been spread across newspapers and magazines since the November election discussing and analyzing women in politics. How did women candidates fare? Is the public willing to elect women to high national office?
The number of women in Congress will be the same in 1987 as in 1986 — two women in the Senate and 23 in the House. Only one woman was elected Governor out of the eight challengers, plus one who was reelected with a 47 percent plurality.
That’s not much different from the figures one and two generations ago. It’s not much different from the 1984 elections when hopes were raised by the candidacy of Geraldine Ferraro, then dashed when she and all feminist challengers for the U.S. Senate and House were defeated.
But it’s a great mistake to discuss this subject without identifying what kind of women we are talking about. Nobody discusses the wholly irrelevant figures that 32 men were elected to the U.S. Senate out of 34 seats; instead we discussed liberals vs. conservatives, or Democrats vs. Republicans. When it comes to women, the only relevant figures are how many winners were feminist women and how many were pro-family women.
Except for the election of Barbara Mikulski to the Senate, 1986 was a smashing defeat for the feminists. They lost their best-known candidates: Rose Bird running to retain her post as chief justice of the California Supreme Court, Harriett Woods running for the Senate in Missouri, Bella Abzug running for Congress in New York, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend running for Congress in Maryland, and seven gubernatorial candidates.
Feminist writers have been busily trying to explain their defeats by complaining about the difficulty of raising money, barriers of discrimination, and prevailing sexist attitudes of voters against women as chief executives. This cry-baby line won’t wash; the voters and contributors didn’t reject any candidates because they are women, but because they are feminists.
If we take a world view and ask who are the most successful women in politics, we would have to admit that the number-one and number-two answers to that question are Margaret Thatcher and Cory Aquino. But Mrs. Thatcher is not a feminist, so all feminist publications give her the silent treatment.
If feminist groups were truly interested in women’s progress, they would acclaim Mrs. Thatcher as a role model of a truly capable and successful woman. But since feminists disdain Mrs. Thatcher’s pro-family attitudes, feminists pretend she doesn’t exist. For the same reasons, feminists won’t be boasting about the election of pro-family candidate, Mrs. Kay Orr, the newly-elected Governor of Nebraska.
Apparently the feminists thought they could line up Cory Aquino as a standard-bearer because her political success (at least in the short term) is so spectacular. And so Gloria Steinem’s magazine Ms. secured a personal interview. It is very revealing because it shows what type of questions feminists ask and what type of answers successful women give.
Ms. asked, “When you were 18, what did you expect your life would be?” Cory replied, “I expected my life to be centered around my family.”
Ms. asked, “Do you feel you have a special connection and emotional constituency among women?” Cory replied, “As a woman, I feel the same special connection and understanding any woman has with other women.”
Ms. asked, “What are the greatest obstacles to equality for women within your society?” Cory replied, “There are no real inequalities women suffer in our society. Some people even refer to our system as somewhat matriarchal.”
Ms. asked, “In solving the economic problems that you inherited, do you feel that women have a role different from or in addition to that of men?” Cory replied, “Not in any meaningful way, since our men and women generally work side by side for their families.”
Ms. asked, “Do you have any plans for women’s involvement in the Philippine military?” Cory replied, “There are no special plans for this.” Ms. asked, “As a woman, how do you find the Church most helpful?” Cory replied, “The Church has been supportive and has been the champion of the same code of morality we here adhere to.” Ms. asked, “As a woman, how do you find the Church least helpful?” Cory replied, “I don’t see any areas where I can consider the role of the Church less helpful.”
Ms. asked, “Do you think you chose your husband in part because your political views were similar to his, or did his views become yours?” Cory replied, “Politics had nothing to do with our marriage, but you can be sure I learned a lot from him.”
