When Ann Romney gave a shout out to the women in the RNC
crowd last week, declaring, “I love you women”, I was foolish enough to think
she might be addressing all women.
Turns out, I was wrong.
Ann Romney loves women—straight women with children. “The moms of this
nation really hold this country together”, said Romney in her RNC speech.
"You are the best of America…I very much believe it’s going to be an
economic election. And I think a lot of women may be voting this cycle around
in a different way than they usually are. And that is thinking about the
economy. Thinking about their own jobs, their husbands’ jobs, but also thinking
about the future…they care not about their own job, and their children’s job
and their husband’s job, which they do care about because they’re worried about
those. They are also caring about the legacy of debt that we’re leaving their
children.”
Romney talked endlessly about mothers and children, even
lamenting that some folks want more children, but simply cannot afford
it. She was concerned about moms who’d rather be home with their kids: “moms
who love their jobs but would like to work just a little less to spend more
time with the kids”—as if suggesting that dads are not also interested in such
things. “I’m hearing from so many women that may not have considered voting for
a Republican before,” she continued, “that said it’s time for the grown-up to
come, the man that’s going to take this very seriously. And take the future of
our children very, very seriously.” Never mind the mean-spirited suggestion she’s
making about the President…
Ann Romney was smart enough to address different kinds of
moms—single, married, divorced, widowed—but she left out a larger portion of
women—the ones who don’t have kids (by choice or otherwise) and women who have
no intention of ever having a husband in their life. It’s as if those women (of
which I am a part) have no place in the Romney vision of America. Women who
don’t have kids lack a narrative that Romney can relate to—rather than reach
out any way (even if it risked being uncomfortable), she left us out
altogether. It’s bad enough that society and tradition looks down upon
childless women (think of the “old” term barren), and that Americans still
cannot seem to grant equality to our LGBT neighbors, but to have that
reaffirmed on a national platform by a woman who wants to be the First Lady is
even more sad. Romney cannot choose the citizens she’ll lead in the same way
that she and her family have chosen their cloistered life. Either she is the
First Lady of all Americans, or she need not be one at all.
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