Conservative Feminism – Is Palin Credited for Beginning a Movement?

A comment on this blogs Post, “Sarah Palin, Sexism and Politics Why the Sudden Respect”, questioned the emergence of Conservative Feminism as “newly found” and tied exclusively to Sarah Palin the G.O.P. Obviously, there has been an increased interest, judging from “Google Search” (1.9 Million searches for Conservative Feminism, 2.9 million searches Conservative Feminist) in the term since Palin came to the national stage, however, “conservative feminism is not defined by one woman’s candidacy or by one party. The blogger, Merge and Divide’s comments here are worth sharing. What follows is a rebuttal to those who would define a movement by one individual and/or one political party.

The idea of “conservative feminism” is not something that has risen out of the candidacy of Sarah Palin – “within the past few months” – Palin definitely played a role in bringing conservative feminism to light – given her high profile – that said; from a personal perspective, I have always been a feminist, I have not always been a conservative, and yet, when I found that my point of view towards social and economic issues changed to a more conservative point of view, I did not lose my basic feminist instincts – therefore, I was both – a conservative and a feminist. Conservative Feminism is not tied to any specific religion as is claimed by “Merge”. One cannot say that those that follow Christian, Judaic or Muslim doctrine, all religions that prohibit “abortion”, are less feminist for being religious. The problem many of the “old traditional feminists” have is that they are a one issue, and exclusive – focused on “reproductive rights” – (abortion) rather than the big picture. They would cast blame on man, rather than work with other feminists who do not share some of the same ideology, in order to push one political party over another. Conservative Feminists take a different approach – it is not exclusive, rather inclusive - understanding that although one may disagree on a certain issue, there are more than enough problems facing women as a group to necessitate working together towards a common goal.

The notion that Conservative think and GOP does not go hand in hand is something the national parties failed to understand. Liberals are not necessarily Democrat and conservatives are not necessarily Republican – to think that people are that easily pegged is naive to say the least. When Clinton ran up against sexisms stone wall – those that came to her defense were both liberal and conservative – something – the situation was so severe that even right-wing (and that is not to say conservative, but specifically right-wing) columnist began to take notice. Go figure.
The assertion that the “vast majority of attacks (on Palin) having nothing to do with sexism” is ludicrous. Those who had Google email alerts on Palin from July through present find articles that are still focused, not on the issues, or her perceived inabilities, rather – the wardrobe, the celebrity status, ad nauseum.

Now, as to the role of women in the GOP, it is fairly well documented that more positions of equal pay and equal status have been granted to women in that party than in the Democrat Party. Additionally, there had been slow progress made in employment (jobs that we’re traditionally held by men, given to women) in the 1970’s, during the 1980’s more women assumed these positions but still held the same “less than” status, during the 1990’s – nothing changed, with one exception, there was less emphasis on gaining ground and more on the status quo, which is where it has stood. It was gratifying to see the Conservative women coming to the GOP (and I am not referring to the ridiculous Pink Elephants – that was demeaning) during this campaign, from both parties. Some because their personal convictions were more in-line with the Party and others because they felt their party had abandoned women, yet again. Try and find bills regarding women’s issues proposed by either party over since 1999 in the Senate and you will find little from either party.

On Palin and 2012 – No one has any idea of who will run in 2012 – Palin has a fan base within the Republican Party – to be sure, but one can almost bet the house that there won’t be a woman on the top or bottom of either ticket in 2012. Palin will work for conservatives and for her State. However, no-one knows if she will emerge as a candidate in 12, or if another woman, from either party, will decide to run, including Hillary Clinton.