I have a confession to make. I don’t know much about gender studies, or ‘women’s issues’, or the history of the feminist movement. I was a Philosophy major and I remember reading Secrets of Life, Secrets of Death by Evelyn Fox Keller. It bored me. I was more interested in Popper and Kuhn.
But, I have always felt that progressive causes are set back for a simple reason. There are not enough women in elected office. Women usually make up slightly more than half of any population. They murder and get murdered less. They live longer, on average.
Yet, there are by my count only fourteen female U.S. Senators. If there were 52 female Senators, I don’t think we would be watching Bush’s judges get confirmed. I don’t think Bill Frist would be majority leader. Even if most of the women were Republicans, I don’t think a Senate with gender equity would put up with James Dobson’s bullshit.
When I decided to start this web community, I had this same logic in mind. I tried to recruit women to be front-pagers here. Susan and Maryscott agreed. Some others had other projects they were dedicated to. But, my idea was: “Shoot, I’m no expert on gender bias, health care, day care, education, workplace discrimination, or any other issues that can be loosely defined as ‘women’s issues’, but if I succeed in building a community where both genders are heard equally, it will reflect the reality of the Democratic Party.”
Because the reality of the Democratic Party is that it is a women’s party. It is the party of assistance to single mothers, of affirmative action, of reproductive rights, of minimum wage, of day care, health care and job training.
I care about all these things, as do most Democraric men. But I know these issues will be better protected and advanced when the gender of our elected officials more nearly reflects the gender of the population at large.
Anyway, that was my thinking. And so far, it’s paid off. I’ve learned a lot just by working with Susan everyday. And Susan has helped to attract the balanced community that I hoped to create.
