I've been circulating my resume in hopes of finding contract copy editing work. A couple of weeks back I wrote up a version of my resume minus personal contact information, for security reasons, and I posted this version on Philadelphia's Craig's List, in the "Resumes" category.
I had one response. It was from a male proprietor of a home remodeling business in a Philadelphia suburb (the Philly burbs are heavily Republican).
Some background: I graduated magna cum laude from a university with a very demanding curriculum, attended on a scholarship of that university, and picked up a couple of major academic awards. People who have seen my resume have called it "VERY impressive." I've got experience doing copy editing work and I've had my writing published in a few nifty places, like The New York Times.
This business owner read my resume, saw the work I'm seeking, but he also saw that I'm a woman.
He invited me to apply for a job as a receptionist.
I read a similar story about Sandra Day O'Connor: when she came out of law school, in the top of her class, she couldn't get offers as an attorney. She had one offer for a secretary's job.
I'm thinking of how this figures alongside a woman running for President in America, as well as women working as astronauts, university presidents, senators, governors, and all the rest. It looks like a lot has changed, but not enough has changed, and we still have a long way to go--witness Chris Matthews' blatant problem with powerful women, and Mr. Iron-My-Shirts.
The slap in the face I got is no valid reason to vote for a woman as President. I certainly would not vote for Phyllis Schlafly for President. But I go through slights and injuries like this often--and there isn't a single woman reading this who doesn't know what I'm talking about. Some of the offenses are subtle and fleeting, others are not a bit subtle and they deny us our human rights. They make me forget, for a moment, that I must examine closely each candidate's position on the issues, his or her track record, and his or her character. They make me forget that I must think critically, and that I must pay careful attention not to let my emotions guide how I vote. When gender bigots (and some of them are women) commit these bigoted offenses about me, I silently hope that I'll see a woman triumph and win election as President.
It's my emotions getting the better of me, and I nip it in the bud. I remind myself that, for instance, Pakistan has had a woman leader, but I don't think a single American woman envies the women of Pakistan. It certainly hasn't freed them or broken their chains.
Women's rights, too often, are relegated to the status of a trivial issue deserving little urgency or attention. We're told there are far more urgent matters to address. And though I reject the belief that women are innately more moral than men, I argue that the lopsided imbalance of gender presence in the public realm and in decision-making must be addressed before our serious problems of poverty, crime, corruption, and environmental protection, and others, are to be resolved justly. I argue this because of what I observe around the world: in places where women are most mercilessly and brutally oppressed, the problems of instability, human rights violations, savage violence, poverty, and war are the worst. In societies where women are closest to equality, those problems are minimized.
I may be putting the cart before the horse. It may not be a matter of women's freedom leading to more stable societies; it may be that those populations came to see that women must be emancipated as part of their overall more enlightened philosophy, which also includes liberal policies about health care, aid to the poor, and other issues. But the fact remains--and I say it's a fact--that women's empowerment is the key to eliminating the serious problems of poverty, crime, income disparity, dishonesty in government and business, and others that we face.
One more thing: American women must not let themselves be taken in by the presence here and there of women in powerful, prominent positions in government. This calls to my mind a lecture I attended awhile back. The speaker was Shirin Ebadi, the Iranian woman who was awarded the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize for her human rights work in Iran, and for her fight for women's rights. She spoke about the tactics of the revolutionaries in Iran who took control of Iran after the fall of the Shah. Initially, Iranian women were nervous about what would happen to their rights under the new theocracy set up. The revolutionaries lulled Iranian women into a false sense of security by appointing a few women to prominent positions of power in the new government. This worked; Iranian women relaxed and concluded that their rights were safe. The revolutionaries waited until they had a total lock on power, and then they went after women's rights. The lesson I take: American women should not get complacent because of the O'Connors, Bader Ginsburgs, Rices, and others we see in high places. For each of them, there are tens of thousands of American women fighting pernicious sexism.
It can't happen overnight in America the way it happened in Iran, but that isn't to say it can't happen. In fact, I'd argue that it's been happening by the fractions of an inch since the Reagan years.
American women are complacent and passive at their own peril. They must not dismiss the subtle, fleeting put-downs--like the job offer I mentioned earlier--as unimportant. Those "little" put-downs are the canaries in the coal mine. I wish--probably in vain--that the media would pin down a Republican candidate and ask HIM what precisely Republicans mean when they speak for "traditional family values." Because that's code for the subjugation of women. They want their male supremacy, grounded in their fundamentalist beliefs, codified into law.
I ask more questions in my diary than I offer answers. I'm asking that we cease to see rights in terms of for African-Americans OR women. We're all in this together. Racism and sexism are two facets of the same affliction, bigotry. It's a complicated mix, I know; a black woman's experience isn't near what mine is, as a white woman. But when I put aside my knee-jerk emotional reaction to the slights I endure, I hope most for unity among groups on the business end of bigotry and greed.