Doug and I got up early and headed out for a hot cup of coffee before going to our neighborhood polling location. We arrived thirty minutes early in anticipation of a long line only to find one woman waiting outside next to the American Flag. We greeted her and shared our enthusiasm and a few laughs (mostly at the expense of George W. Bush) when a station wagon began making an achingly slow u-turn on the crowded residential street. As the car inched forward, then crept backward, and forward, still, our voting colleague noted, "That's my 90 year old neighbor." We continued to watch him park a full five minutes.
Soon, he emerged, cane in hand, and headed our way. Seeing that the first two voters, in a line of only three, were women, he commented, "Ah, so I see the women are coming out." "Yes," I assured him, "I'm sure there will be many women voting this election." To which he replied, "I was alive when they first got the vote."
His remark struck me. Here I was, standing in line excited to vote, and had forgotten that we had only received suffrage a mere 88 years earlier. And for a moment, I felt a familiar twinge of unease. To some, my status as a female still relegates me to secondary status. In my over-eagerness to vote, I had temporarily forgotten that weeks ago a friend of mine used terms like, 'secondary,' 'personal,' and 'individual,' when defining women's issues. To him, women's concerns over Palin's desire to overturn Roe v Wade was a selfish and inconsiderate reason to vote against the McCain/Palin ticket, sarcastically saying that we were under economic stress, housing concerns, lack of health care, war, terrorism, high gas prices,and people hating America, " But, as long as we elect someone who won't mess with Roe v. Wade we'll be okay???"
My friend made a few points to argue against, (one of which is the assumption that women would base their vote solely on one issue ,or that we aren't smart enough to have done our homework and need to have the alpha male in our lives tell us about all the other things were are ignorant to), but I will address only one as I reflect back on the voting line and the ninety-year old man with his cane: "[P]eople should consider more than these secondary issues that aren't even at the forefront of the battles we're facing. Issues such as abortion, gay rights, etc, if you notice, no one is even mentioning them. Right now, Democrat or Republican, we ALL need to focus on these American issues...not personal issues."
Since
when are women and our "issues," not American issues? The fear of
taking away our right to govern our own bodies is a very real concern;
it is a collective concern, a public concern, and a concern on par with
every other American issue facing our country. And wouldn't you want a
president who can multi-task many concerns at once? Since when are we
too busy or too distracted to focus on human rights? And, more
importantly, who is deciding which of our country's many issues are the
most pertinent?
I could go on, but this wasn't meant to be a rant. I just wanted to say I voted, today. I voted to keep a woman out of reach of Roe v Wade. I voted NO on Prop 8. I voted for a tax plan that will alleviate the economic stress. I voted less war-mongering and more diplomacy. I voted for a health care plan that makes sense for all. I voted regulations and oversights. I voted for the environment, and clean energy. I voted for America. I voted for women. I voted for me. I voted for Obama.
Also, thanks to a charming older man (voting McCain, BTW) for reminding me to stay vigilant in the fight for equal status.
