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| Marlene Jennings |
There is a motion that has been put forward by Montreal Liberal MP, Marlene Jennings that would have taxpayers give political parties a few extra bucks based on the percentage of women they manage to get elected to Parliament.
Because I suspect that we are moving into desperate times I am in favour of anything that will get more women into government.
So when I saw that the Niagara Falls Review had posted an article about this Bill, (Bill C-552), I read it with great interest.
I also read the comments.
I must tell you, my comment was the only one in favour of the motion.
The majority of the comments came from REAL women and I was shocked at how many of them used the 'f' word.
Now my New Year's Resolution was to look for common ground with people and groups whose beliefs make me uncomfortable so I decided to check out REAL Women of Canada, (Realistic, Equal, Active Living).
This is what I found:
"Before women can have equality with men, we must first have equality among ourselves and this means a tolerance and respect for the differing views of other women.
This also means a recognition, not only of the dignity of the individual, but also for the fact that women have always required more than just one voice to speak for our concerns."
Wow!
I almost took out a lifetime membership.
However REAL Women wants to tighten divorce laws, is not pro-choice in the abortion debate, is homophobic and anti-union, doesn't seem overly sympathetic towards single moms, is against legalizing prostitution, etc. etc.
But what really shocked me was the way they bandied about that darn old 'f' word.
When asked if her organization approved of Ms Jennings' effort to bring more women to Parliament Hill, Gwen Lanolt, representing REAL Women, said, "What they are really saying is that they want more ...
Get ready for the 'f' word...
Feminists!
Gasp.
She added, "And most of these ...
here it comes again ...
Feminists
(gasp again)
don't utter a word that most women would agree with."
What happened to our common ground, Gwen - the part where we tolerate and respect the views of other women and the dignity of individuals?
Jeesh.
4 comments:
being a feminist ..is letting everyone make their own decisions and going along with it, even if it's different than yours..sigh*
Well, that's interesting, Yellowdog Granny. I've been thinking about what being a feminist means these days. It seems to be a bad word, referring most often to women who are politically active.
I believe that when many people hear the F-word, they immediately replace it with words like "militant", "left wing", "unfeminine", and maybe even the b-words ("ball busters"). I agree with Yellowdog Granny: All women should at least recognize that it is the right of every woman to make their own decisions, hopefully for the betterment of their lives!
Yes, I actually do know what some people think when they hear the word feminist. Maybe 'female activist' would be more appropriate for 2011. Yes women absolutely must be allowed to make their own decisions, but they must have choices. It has been and continues to be a struggle getting women into positions where they can push those choices into the political arena. Think of childcare and eldercare as issues of great importance to women.
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