The War on Women

What is this war on women I keep hearing about in the news?

It started with the controversy surrounding the health care bill and the availability of contraceptives and requiring all businesses, even Christian businesses opposed to birth control and abortions, to cover those things with their health insurance plans.

Then, it continued with a wise crack by someone that Mitt Romney’s wife never worked a day in her life. In reality, she worked at home, raising 5 children.

Basically, what’s going on is both parties fighting for the vote of women in this year’s presidential elections. The “women’s vote” is a vital vote.

It wasn’t that long ago when women did not even have the right to vote.

The war on women is all about posturing. However, there are some legitimate reasons for people concerned about justice to stand up and fight against gender inequality.

Here are a few of those inequalities:

• In 2010, women in the USA earned 77% of what men earned
• More women are in poverty than men
• Violence against women remains high
• Women hold 90, or 16.8%, of the 535 seats in the 112th US Congress — 17, or 17.0%, of the 100 seats in the Senate and 73, or 16.8%, of the 435 seats in the House of Representatives. In addition, three women serve as Delegates to the House from Guam, the Virgin Islands and Washington, DC.
• Only 12 Fortune 500 companies are headed by women; and only 25 Fortune 1000 companies are headed by women.

However, not all the news is bad. Today, there are more women in college than men. In 2011, more women graduated with PhDs, then men. Women are gaining strides at all levels of society. However, there is still a glass ceiling, and our society, as a whole, is still more patriarchal than matriarchal.