So I’ve always been impressed with the men in my life who proudly declare that they’re feminists. Hard to believe it, but even now in the 21st Century, it takes a pretty self-confident guy to say that they believe in something as basic as a level playing field for women and girls. I’m delighted to say that hubby’s one of them.
When a male co-worker asked hubby who he liked for the 2016 presidential race, to their surprise he quickly said he was in Hillary Clinton’s corner. He said “it’s simple – I love my wife and I love my little girl. Hillary’s been fighting for women and girls for over 40 years and I know she’ll keep right on fighting from the Oval Office. And when I think of the example she’ll set for my daughter – serving as the first woman president… well the choice is clear.”
In other words – hubby’s not only a feminist – he’s a Hillary Man. A guy who believes in equality for women and respects the tireless work Hillary’s done for all of us.
Hubby grew up around strong Irish women so he’s not afraid of equality – in fact he knows that families and communities are stronger when women have a voice and earn what they’re worth – and he celebrates that. He’s also got a lot of he-man company when it comes to supporting Hillary.
A couple weeks ago, Peter Daou and Tom Watson penned a column called The Dawn of the Hillary Man, explaining why they’re Hillary Men. Peter included some pretty eye-popping statistics…
One out of every three women will be a victim of violence in her lifetime.
Women and girls ages 15 to 44 are more likely to be maimed or killed by men than by malaria, cancer, war or traffic accidents combined.
In some parts of the world a girl is more likely to be raped than to learn how to read.
Murder is a leading cause of death for pregnant women.
The children most at risk of attempted abduction by strangers are girls ages 10 to 14.
Every year, 60 million girls are sexually assaulted at or on their way to school.
Every 2 minutes, someone in the U.S. is sexually assaulted.
97% of rapists will never spend a day in jail.
Femicide is the leading cause of on-the-job death for women.
Only about one third of countries around the world have laws in place to combat violence against women, and in most of these countries those laws are not enforced.
In addition to sex-selective abortions, millions of girls and women are killed after birth through starvation and violence, forced abortions, ‘honor’ killings, dowry murders, and witch lynchings.
Then there’s
this recent study by Cornell University, where they found that over half the 4,000 women surveyed had experienced verbal or physical harassment in the past year. The harassment continues well into middle age but sadly, many girls first experienced harassment or worse at a very early age – many before they turned 17 – some before reaching the tender age of 11!
Hillary Men know that this violence and degradation are happening to their wives, their daughters, their sisters and their mothers every day – and they’re fighting to put a stop to it. They not only believe in women’s equality – they fight for it, not just in words but in deeds.
They stand up to sexism wherever they see it.
They demand that women and men get paid equally when they work at the same jobs.
They defend a woman’s right to choose, and join us as we march for self-determination.
They encourage their daughters at every turn, and tell them they can grow up to be whatever they want to be if they work hard and keep their focus.
Hillary men also know that that last point will be reinforced a thousand-fold if their daughters see them fight to help elect the first woman president in US history. And if they’re successful – if Hillary makes it past that highest and toughest glass ceiling and into the Oval Office at last – they’ll join their daughters and millions of others as they watch Hillary take the oath of office in January 2017. The election of a woman president will send a powerful message to girls that they really can be anything they want to be.
A friend of mine is a great student of the suffrage movement and can talk for hours about the heroic women of that age. But she also reminds us that – for as long as women fought to gain the right to vote – it never would have happened if they hadn’t convinced their brothers, fathers, sons and husbands to fight alongside them in the struggle for that basic right. After all the marches, hunger-strikes, letter-writing campaigns, arrests, beatings and lobbying, at the end of the day it was the men in Congress who granted women the right to vote. That was nearly 100 years ago, and we’re still waiting to elect a woman president.
We can’t sit around and wait and we can’t elect our first woman president on our own. We need the men in our lives to step up and help make this happen.
Other nations have managed to break this barrier. Germany’s current head of state is a woman. And Ireland’s a fairly young nation compared to our own. But out of nine presidents how many women do you think they’ve elected? TWO! Hubby grew up in Ireland and he’s mighty proud of the fact that the Emerald Isle has TWICE elected a woman to lead their country. Mary Robinson and Mary McAleese. He never thought that was a big deal and can’t understand why America hasn’t managed to break through that final barrier.
In our 239 years as a nation, forty-four men have served as President. Zero women.
I think it’s about time we did something about that. Don’t you?
Sign up today – get involved – help spread the word – donate.
THIS time we’re going to make it happen.
