A few thoughts about all the diaries about feminism and Obama. First they are wonderful. It is inspiring to see such at outpouring from women of all different ages supporting Obama. One was recommended and elicited 900 comments!!! I strongly agree with every feminist who rejects being put in a box by women who feel one has to vote for Hillary Clinton because she is a woman and not because of her politics.!
But I have a few questions as well. To begin with, I think the attempt to separate Hillary and Obama supporters by age is problematic. Older women are a much more diverse group which I outlined in another diary on Saturday .Women Still Face Challenges: But It is Obama Not Hillary Who Will Have The Answers in 2009.
Second, the fight is not over
But not as Hillary voters put it. The fight is not over because the heirs to the early women’s movement are still few. Working class women and women of color still face enormous challenges. 2/3 of working women still work in sex segregated jobs which are paid less than the jobs that successful feminists write about. Women of color are paid less than any other group of women in the U .S. Mothers as a group are paid less than nonmothers and men. And single mothers are the fastest growing group of the poor in the United States. They have to manage low paying, stressful job(s) which lack benefits such as health insurance and then coming home to the second shift, where they have no supports.
But the fight around these multiple issues will be a fight around a gender movement that also integrates social and economic and racial injustice. I believe such a social justice perspective is reflected more in the campaign of Barack Obama than in the campaign of Hillary Clinton. And as all the women posting and commenting on Daily Kos yesterday put it so well, this is the hope that we have with Barack Obama today.