In the Sunday, February 12, 2017, issue of the New York Times, columnist Susan Chira asks: "Since When is Being a Women a Liberal Cause?" (New York Times, Op-Ed sec. p. 9) She refers to several conservative female activists disputing the gender identity politics usually associated with the liberal left. She writes, "For years, conservative women have wrestled with the very idea of feminism. Many refused the label because they saw it as tarnished by association with the left, even as they pursued careers or won prominence in public life. (Italics added)." Here is the problem. Feminism is generally defined, as among other things, as emphasizing examination of women's issues. Among these issues are the legal status of women in our society and their economic rights. Feminism and feminists are largely credited with removing the restrictions placed on women's attainments since the beginning of recorded history. While it is true that some Western societies have been more or less accommodating to women, Rome was more liberal in its laws defining women's ability to inherit, head families and engage in independent economic activities, although it barred women from participating in political institutions, than ancient Greece and subsequent Western societies based in Christian morality. In more contemporary times, in the U.S. it was necessary for women to obtain the consent of a male relation for women to acquire credit cards or a mortgage in their own names. Women were legally discriminated against in both employment and college admissions. It was not until Title IX that women's equality in college admissions and then in financial support of women's sports was legally established. All of these gains were founded first on Feminist theory and then fought for by women who had no problem identifying themselves as Feminists. Conservative women would not have the rights and opportunities they enjoy today without the struggles undertaken by feminists of prior generations. Leaving out abortion, they would not have access to any sort of birth control other than condoms. The birth control pill and the IUD were direct outgrowths of feminist struggles. One of the women, Chira refers to in her article, Cleta Mitchell, is a partner in the New York law firm of Foley & Lardner. This would have been impossible in America prior to the 1960s. And though we can point to Phyllis Schlafly as a counter-argument, I would say that she is the exception that proves the rule.
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