This year, 2010, marks the 90th anniversary of women's suffrage in the U. S. When the nation's founders excluded women from full citizenship rights in the 18th century, it can be said that the founding fathers remained influenced by the actions of the church synod thousands of years ago. In that august legislative body, church fathers decided by one vote that women actually are human beings with souls, not animals.
Over the past 20 decades many excuses have been offered against women in leadership positions including a reputed lack of logical thinking skills and the favorite historical mandatory role of women as hearth keepers and child nurturers. A giant step for women was achieved with President Obama's successful appointment of Sonia Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court. Sotomayor is a visible symbol of the inherent female capabilities of mental proficiency in both rational and emotional thinking. Will she always be right in her judgments? Probably not....but she will work harder in making the right decisions because she is a woman.
The questioning of Sonia Sotomayor (July 2009) is an enlightening experience for those of us on the sidelines or outskirts of the beltway. The committee members have soared in on Sotomayor's attitude toward gender and ethnicity when she is making judgments from the bench.
It is absolutely amazing that these committee members do not recognize that they, themselves, are exercising personal attitudes toward gender and ethnicity in the questions they are raising about Sotomayor's judging capabilities. The "wise Latina woman" attacks are the most revealing of all.
Let us all remember that women were finally allowed to become voters only 89 years ago because those "wise" great white fathers did not think the "emotional" female capable of making rational decisions. These "wise" males feared women would neglect their children if allowed to vote in elections and exercise their purported constitutional rights to participate in the political process.
Let us also remember that it has taken more than 200 years for any woman to be deemed worthy of inclusion in the great white male political club of leadership.
Sotomayor is no more and no less compelled, controlled, commanded or driven to make biased judgments from the bench than are those "judges" on the judiciary committee. Human nature is human nature. Any person who claims a lack of bias in making choices is not being truthful to the self or others, and that includes the judiciary committee.
Sotomayor deserves this appointment so let's get on with it. If as much attention is paid to the economy as to Sotomayor, we may just survive this downfall in our way of life.
(Please note the above was originally a response to a Politico article about Sotomayor and the Judiciary Committee,and is crossposted on Politico July 16. 2009.)
Julia Hughes Jones is the author of "The Secret History of 'Weeds'" or, What Women Need To Know About Their History." She is a public speaker on women's capabilities and history and many of her speeches have been published world wide in textbooks, popular business books, and speech writing guides. She is a native Arkansan, former State Auditor of Arkansas (1981-1995) and now resides in St. Augustine Florida.