As a young girl I imagined that toward the end of my life I would be married with children and maybe a few grandchildren. I had no idea what marriage entailed; all I knew was that I had to get married within my lifetime. Many other girls and women believe getting married is a life goal.
Essentially, marriage is a legal bond between couples. So how does getting married or being married affect voting behavior? According to Mollie Hemingway, a panelist at The Heritage Foundation’s wrap up of Women’s History Month, there are fewer women with conservative views today because there are more women who aren’t married. This may have to do with a trend that finds more and more unmarried women voting for Democratic candidates.
“We do not have a sex gap,” she said at the gathering. “We have a marriage gap.”
What Hemingway was essentially saying was that the Republican Party doesn’t need to change their views to increase their female voter population, but that women need to change. When asked about this conservative perspective on how women tend to vote, both conservative and liberal girls around campus found this notion ridiculous.
“I vote for the candidate who I feel best will represent me and my views,” student Ellie Toleberd said. “And I will continue to vote for people who I feel best represent my views even when I am married.”
“Republicans have this tunnel vision and Democrats have a more open viewpoint on policies people want to see implemented. So it will make sense that women who fight for equality will vote for the candidates with a more open mind,” Akudo Mez, sophomore, said.
If we were to critically look at why many women tend to lean left in politics, we would reconsider the validity of Hemingway’s claim. We would also consider the Republican views that many women don’t agree with, such as access to abortion and contraception. These views play a major role in why most women aren’t members of the Republican Party.
To women, these views restrict them from making choices only they should make.
“(Republicans) can’t continue to insult the general population and expect the people to vote,” Condoleezza Rice said at a lecture at the University of Minnesota this past Thursday, April 17.
Rice, a civil rights spokesperson and a face of Girl Scouts of the USA’s “Ban Bossy” campaign, is a fellow feminist herself. A feminist who, nonetheless, is very much part of the Republican Party, acting as Secretary of State for four years in President George W. Bush’s administration.
Feminism is a fight that will continue as women are seen or treated as inferior. Feminism will be the sword and shield to all injustice towards women anywhere and everywhere. Feminists will continue to stand united and build a world they see fit to live in.
If some of the conservative leaders are trying to rationalize their lack of unwed female voters, in the words of the late and great Michael Jackson, they must start with the man in the mirror.
