I saw a musical yesterday called “Suffs” that used humor and song to tell the history of the U.S. women’s suffrage movement, particularly the leaders and organizations that led to the 19th Amendment passing in 1920. The women’s suffrage movement had always been an interest of mine, since I first discovered it in middle school. I think it fascinated me because as someone who excelled in school above her male peers, it was unfathomable to me why my own society wouldn’t want to hear from me (we can talk about the reasons I’ve identified in a later, longer post.). Grades shouldn’t “earn” someone a right to vote, but it’s worth noting that musical Woodrow Wilson didn’t want to concern “women’s minds” with politics, among other reasons.

Seeing the actresses (of the all-woman cast) passionately sing and champion for (white) women’s right to vote inspired me. It made me wish I had something to stand up for so passionately. And yet, it’s almost sad that I believe I do. I have identified this theme in a current political ideology that proposes the solution to society’s problems is to regress women’s advancements. An example of one such “societal problem” identified by The Heritage Foundation is the decreasing birth and marriage rates and rates of single-mother households. Its report presents that women are afforded more opportunities in education and employment which delay or discourage marriage and children; or that women are afforded more benefits through welfare compared to marriage. Men are missing out of this equation, so all responsibility appears to fall on the women.

What I believe I’m seeing here is a false dilemma intentionally meant to lead supporters toward accepting their solutions without considering alternatives. For instance, rising household prices, the legal risks of miscarriages, the health risks of pregnancy under current policy, and the online indoctrination of young men might be more viable reasons for the current birth and marriage trends.

It is interesting that the Foundation’s and others’ solutions seem to be supporting “trad wife” ideals where women are essentially kept out of society. In the musical, one song depicts the “economic death” of women through marriage: physical abuse is legal, she cannot open her own bank account, cannot get a lawyer, can’t initiate a divorce, contraception is illegal… So when we look at the decreasing marriage rates, why are the solutions to eliminate no-fault divorce and restrict contraceptives?

I want to conclude by saying I am an independent thinker who will never align with any political party; I am too smart to be a pawn in politicians’ strategies which pit Americans against one another while they profit off of our desperate desire to feel some level of control in the ways we are governed. I am merely recognizing patterns and implore my readers to neutrally consider these points.

Happy National Women’s History Month! Keep Marching!

xoxo,

k.c.

photo creds: Google Images, Playbill