A few entries back i mentioned the feminist quandry presented by Condoleeza Rice. seems i'm not the only one thinking about this. in this article from In These Times (via Alternet), The Powerful Women Problem, Susan Douglas is talking about the same thing, starting with the prosecution and conviction of Martha Stewart ("a combination between showboating by federal prosecuters and good old-fashioned backlash."), going on to discuss a new book by Laura Flanders called Bushwomen.
She notes that "Team Bush has successfully used women, in cabinet positions and elsewhere, to make the administration seem female-friendly and egalitarian." But, of the five female cabinet members she profiles, "only one has children. The rest are simply unfamiliar with struggles faced by millions of mothers to juggle the demands of work and family. All have 'benefited directly from feminism - the movement they now cast as women's enemy.'"
Since the gender gap will be as important in this election as it was in the last (if not more so), Flanders wants women to look beyond the Cabinet window-dressing and learn what these Bushwomen (she begins with Katherine Harris, then devotes chapters to Condoleezza Rice, Karen Hughes, AnnVeneman, Elaine Chao, Christy Whitman, and Gale Norton.) are really about. Sounds like a good idea to me.
3 comments:
Laura Flanders will also be on the new Air America Radio on Saturdays and Sundays. I'm listening to Al Franken now.
http://www.airamericaradio.com/www/pub/prg8about.htm/ Laura Flanders
The Nation had a good article about the Bushwomen. To quote: "The Bushwomen are the Administration's way of sending two contradictory messages at once. Even as her husband courts social conservatives, Laura Bush lulls moderate voters into believing that the White House is not really in the clutches of the extreme right."
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20040322&s=flanders
It's ironic that these women reach the higher echelons of power and have nothing to show for it except their unwavering support and servicing of this administration's self-interests. They are not public servants, just willing lackeys in the House of Bush.
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