The ‘Woman Card’ Brings a Wealth of Disadvantages

The ‘Woman Card’ Brings a Wealth of Disadvantages

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Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, on stage with actress Jamie Lee Curtis at left, reacts during a campaign event Tuesday in Buena Park, Calif. (Photo: John Locher / AP)

“If Hillary Clinton were a man, I don’t think she’d get 5 percent of the vote …” Donald Trump asserted back in April, adding: “The only thing she’s got going is the woman’s card.” Sadly, his remark did not only reflect his own sexist views. Apparently, there are plenty of Americans who believe that womanhood is an advantage when it comes to running for the highest office in the country.

A Washington Post-ABC News poll published Monday found that the ridiculous notion that women are more privileged than men has serious traction—among men, of course. And white men at that. Thirty-eight percent of all men, and 34 percent of all white Americans—in other words, those representing the most privileged demographics—believe that a candidate’s femaleness is a trump card (no pun intended).

One can rebut this belief endlessly, by pointing to: women’s unequal pay; the lack of paid maternity leave in the United States; and women’s disproportionately low representation in political office, employment and media, etc. Women of color suffer even worse statistical biases than white women do.

But perhaps nowhere does the disdain for women as human beings become clearer than in the arena of reproductive rights. In 2009, when President Obama launched his plan to reform the nation’s health care system, conservatives invented the bizarre and wholly dishonest concept of “death panels,” invoking mass fear of government overreach into health care-related decisions. Yet Republicans have had no qualms about reaching deep into the intimate details of women’s health care, especially when they want to restrict the right to contraception and abortion.
Reps. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., have even convened their very own panel to examine the practices of health care provider Planned Parenthood. Despite being legally exonerated of accusations of selling fetal tissue, Planned Parenthood remains under siege from Republicans intent on government interference in women’s health care.

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http://www.commondreams.org/views/2016/05/27/woman-card-brings-wealth-disadvantages