Women will speed progress via the voting booth

Spectrum, by Barbara McDaniel

I was registering people to vote this spring when I called an apparently disadvantaged young woman over to my table to talk about voting. As she balanced her toddler on her hip, she told me, "I don't really know much about politics -- I always vote for who my dad says I should vote for."

I wondered if her dad advised her based on his political needs or hers, if he was into patriarchy, if he liked women systematically weakened or if he was the kind of dad who wanted equal opportunity for self-sufficiency for his daughter.

Patriarchy is broadly defined in Webster's as "control by men of a disproportionately large share of power." Patriarchal institutions such as supremacist, conservative or evangelical organizations are battling to maintain this historical imbalance of power in our modern world.

Even though Americans embrace the logic of checks and balances and equal power as important safeguards from tyranny in government, conservatives are suspiciously reluctant to apply that logic to relationships between men and women. And tyranny is thriving in Alaska where conservatism and its partner, patriarchy, dominate policy -- imbalanced Alaska is commonly known to be tops in the nation for wife-battering, rape and child abuse.

However, hope is on the way. Despite the passionate effort of conservatives, the ancient order of patriarchy is slowly dying at the hands of scientific progress and other changing environmental forces. The question is, how many more generations of women will suffer before it's finally over? If women do nothing but wait for more men to evolve and support equal rights policies, the shift will come later. However, if most women, including dominated women, simply vote for equal rights candidates now, the end to the prevailing tyranny of patriarchy will come sooner.

In the Nov. 2, 2004, election, opposing candidates and party platforms clearly take one side or the other: patriarchy vs. equality. Following are some current issues taken from The ABC's of Women's Issues, which affect the quality of life and self-sufficiency of women (for complete issue information visit www.womensorganizations.org).

Access to bank credit and federal government contracting goals and safeguards for women-owned businesses must be improved.

Affordable, quality child care for all who need it must be a national priority.

Women must be explicitly guaranteed equal rights by the U.S. Constitution.

All women and their families must have access to affordable and comprehensive health care.

Privacy rights guaranteed by Roe v. Wade and comprehensive, age-appropriate sex education -- including discussions of disease prevention, family planning, and birth control -- must be defended and promoted.

Inequality of pay between men and women -- full-time, year-round female workers currently earn, on average, 77 percent of what full-time male workers earn -- can be explained by occupational segregation and traditional patterns of discrimination. Women and men performing work of equal skill, effort and responsibility should be paid equally, even if job titles are different.

Any effort to weaken Title IX, such as giving educators more flexibility to establish single-sex education or decreasing funding for women's sports, should be defeated.

The Violence Against Women Act must be fully funded as well as improved with new, innovative programs providing assistance to victims of violence.

There are men who appreciate the benefits of equal rights for women and behave accordingly. However, other men, conservatives especially, prefer that women are hobbled. They demonstrate that preference by using public policy and religious pressure to preserve their imbalanced, patriarchal system.

Women with patriarchal partners may feel afraid to assert their political beliefs. Despite that, there are ways these women may safely vote for their own best candidate.

Restricted women may request a registration form or absentee ballot from the Division of Elections by phone or online. Less restricted women may go to the polls and rely on the private voting booth for safety.

No threatened woman need ever tell an abuser how she actually votes.

Whatever it takes, I urge every woman, in honor of our chastised suffragette foremothers and in the best interests of our granddaughters, to vote as if her life depends on it . . . because it does.

Barbara McDaniel is a lifelong Alaska resident who is employed in the mental health field. She has been married for 34 years and is the mother of three grown children. For information about Mat-Su NOW call (907)357-2677.