I’ve been voting for almost 20 years. During that time, I’ve voted for a lot of liberal men who speak to ‘women’s issues’ when they are campaigning. That campaign rhetoric hasn’t resulted in closing the pay gap, legislation for Paid Family Leave, protection from violent men with guns, expansion of access to reproductive healthcare, real reform of our justice system for sexual assault victims or some of the other things that I hear so much about on the campaign trail. President Obama signing the Lilly Ledbetter Act as his first bill as president felt like a good first step — even though 5 (male) Democratic House Reps voted against it — toward the Equal Pay he campaigned hard on. Yet, here it is 2017 and he’s been talking about these things that I care deeply about for eight years. In our current political world, there just isn’t enough political capital put towards closing the pay gap on our side to make it happen. I don’t blame Pres. Obama, in fact, I think he has genuinely tried to shape a better world for his daughters and my own. And I thank him from the bottom of my heart for being a vocal feminist on the campaign trail AND as our twice-elected President. Here are some of the things he has said or written that resonate with me.
This is What A Feminist Looks Like To me being able to talk personally about gender inequality, how it has affected your life and the lives of those you love, shows more than an interest in checking off the Woman’s Issues box. It reflects President Obama’s desire to change our culture and his understanding of how our communities and our lives are shaped by gender equality.
One of my heroines is Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm, who was the first African American to run for a major party’s presidential nomination. She once said, “The emotional, sexual, and psychological stereotyping of females begins when the doctor says, ‘It’s a girl.’ ” We know that these stereotypes affect how girls see themselves starting at a very young age, making them feel that if they don’t look or act a certain way, they are somehow less worthy. In fact, gender stereotypes affect all of us, regardless of our gender, gender identity, or sexual orientation…
And the reality was that when our girls were young, I was often away from home serving in the state legislature, while also juggling my teaching responsibilities as a law professor. I can look back now and see that, while I helped out, it was usually on my schedule and on my terms. The burden disproportionately and unfairly fell on Michelle…
We need to keep changing the attitude that raises our girls to be demure and our boys to be assertive, that criticizes our daughters for speaking out and our sons for shedding a tear. We need to keep changing the attitude that punishes women for their sexuality and rewards men for theirs…
It’s important for them to see role models out in the world who climb to the highest levels of whatever field they choose. And yes, it’s important that their dad is a feminist, because now that’s what they expect of all men.
It is absolutely men’s responsibility to fight sexism too. And as spouses and partners and boyfriends, we need to work hard and be deliberate about creating truly equal relationships.
From the 2015 State of the Union address:
“This Congress still needs to pass a law that makes sure a woman is paid the same as a man for doing the same work. Really. It’s 2015.”
From the 2014 State of the Union address:
A woman deserves equal pay for equal work. She deserves to have a baby without sacrificing her job. A mother deserves a day off to care for a sick child or sick parent without running into hardship — and you know what, a father does too. It’s time to do away with workplace policies that belong in a Mad Men episode.
Regarding Todd Akin, he moves past the GASP! of the legitimate rape comment to identify the real problem—lack of female representation:
What I think these comments do underscore is why we shouldn’t have a bunch of politicians, the majority of whom are men, making health care decisions on behalf of women.
On the Tampon Tax-I like that he was real about not knowing about it:
"I must confess I was not aware of until you brought it to my attention," he said. "I have to tell you, I have no idea why states would tax these as luxury items," Obama said. "I suspect it's because men were making the laws when those taxes were passed."
From Makers President Obama is able to discuss gender inequality using different approaches and arguments.
"A woman's ability to decide how many children to have and when, without interference from the government, is one of the most fundamental rights we possess. It is not just an issue of office, but equally and opportunity for all women."
“Imagine if you have a team and you don’t let half of the team play. That's stupid. That makes no sense. And the evidence shows that communities that give their daughters the same opportunities as their sons, they are more peaceful, they are more prosperous, they develop faster, they are more likely to succeed."
"Around the world there is a tradition of oppressing women and treating them differently and not giving them the same opportunities, and husbands beating their wives, and children not being sent to school. Those are traditions. Treating women and girls as second-class citizens. Those are bad traditions. They need change."
President Obama has clearly read, studied and learned about feminism and all its iterations. Any man running for office should do the same.
From his epic speech on Feminism in the Spring of 2016:
And that is progress. It’s real and we have to celebrate it, but we also have to remember that progress is not inevitable. It’s the result of decades of slow, tireless, often frustrating and unheralded work by people like Dorothy Pitman-Hughes and Gloria Steinem, who is here today —people who opened our eyes to the discrimination, both subtle and overt, that women face. People like Pauli Murray and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who insisted on equal justice under the law. People like Wilma Mankiller and Patsy Mink, who redefined what leadership looks like. And, yes, people like Hillary Clinton who’ve raised the expectations of our daughters — and our sons — for what is possible.
In other words, our progress has been the result of countless ordinary women and men whose names will never be written into the history books or chiseled on monuments, but who dedicated their lives to ensuring that America lives up to its promise of liberty and justice for all.
Feminist Book Rec’s for his daughter:
“Then there were some books I think that are not on everybody’s reading list these days, but I remembered as being interesting, like The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing, for example. Or The Woman Warrior, by Maxine [Hong Kingston],” Obama said.
I know he knows what the real problem is. He gets that until women are represented in their government by other women we won’t have real reform or get closer to equality in our homes and workplaces. Less than 50 women have ever served in the Senate. Since 1789. Four out of 5 of our House Reps are men. If more of them on our side fought for the reforms and rights we deserve as their partners in this democracy, if more of them spoke to and were vocal about being feminists, as he is, we would see change. As a new group of progressive men is motivated by the dangerous turn our country is taking to run for local office and represent their neighbors on school boards and in state assemblies they should do the work Pres. Obama has clearly done to effectively represent the women and girls that live in their communities.