Chris Jepson: The choice is yours, woman

"In my heart, I think a woman has two choices: either she's a feminist or a masochist." —Gloria Steinem

My life abruptly changed with the birth of my daughter in 1970. Having a child was challenging enough but having a daughter prompted my asking myself, “Would I raise this child, my daughter, differently if she were male?” I probably did not articulate that question then as clearly as I do today, but I quickly determined that I wanted for her whatever she could imagine.

I came of age in the 1960s and I am grateful for that. I was privileged to have a mother who saw no limits to what she could personally achieve. Her example, no doubt, informs my perspective. Confident, intelligent, creative, independent and witty women have been an integral part of my life. I applaud these qualities and believe they are an essential part of a woman’s femininity.

The 1960s and ’70s had feminism move to the front of the national conscience and conversation. America’s daughters—awakened—weren’t going to take it anymore and in an effort to “institutionalize” the new reality, an effort was made to achieve a constitutional amendment assuring equal rights for women. In 1972 both houses of Congress passed The Equal Rights Amendment which read: “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.” Radical, huh? I jest.

What happened next is important because of its relevance to today’s political landscape. The amendment was well on its way to national approval when Phyllis Schlafly, an Illinois Republican activist, organized America’s rightwing base to defeat it. They (Republicans) accomplished this dubious achievement through fear and deceit.

Former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright suggests, “There is a special place in hell for women who do not help other women.”

Move ahead to today and you have a Republican Party that is consistently losing national elections, in part, because it is losing the female vote.

What triggered this column was a recent announcement by three Republican women creating a new company—Burning Glass Consulting— to communicate “smarter” about the Republican message to women. I laughed out loud when I read this. Republican message to women? What exactly might that be?

What would prompt any woman, of any age, to identify with the Republican Party? Uh, “Check your brain at the door, Ma’am?”

Nationwide, Republicans fervently oppose reproductive freedom for women. They consider a woman incapable of deciding for herself if and when she will become pregnant. Republican state legislatures nationwide, if left to their own devices, intrusively insert themselves into a woman’s uterus (see Virginia’s vaginal probe bill). They will restrict access to birth control. Women, according to Republicans, do not have the ability or evidently the right to “own” and manage their own bodies. Any number of issues that have a direct impact on America’s women, Republicans oppose, whether it be the SNAP program, the environment or access to healthcare.

I marvel that any woman would publicly align herself with the Republican Party. If, as a woman, you prefer the boot heel of oppression on the back of your neck, today’s GOP is just the Boys Club for you.

As the early American feminist Sarah Grimké observed, “I ask no favors for my sex. … All I ask of our brethren is that they will take their feet from off our necks.”