Leave it to Ellie...

On the Huffington Post this week, Eleanor Smeal, founding president of the Feminist Majority Foundation, long-time women’s rights advocate, incredible feminist and my old boss, posted “An Open Letter to John McCain.” In the piece, Smeal outlines the real reasons women aren’t flocking to the McCain/Palin ticket. (Note: The reasons have nothing to do with makeup, glasses, jealousy or looks.) Instead, she outlines all of the women’s issues McCain has voted “NO” on, including the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, the Violence Against Women Act and increasing the minimum wage.

It is undeniable, at this point, that the primary qualification Sarah Palin had in McCain’s eyes was the fact that she is a woman. Why else would she have been chosen in this election? I find it so absurd, however, that McCain and McCain advisors would actually think that women who supported the pro-feminist agenda of Clinton would jump on board with McCain’s anti-woman policies just because of Palin’s presence. I suppose a few older women, perhaps, may have considered McCain more than Obama because of Palin, but I mean, c’mon?

We haven’t seen too much coverage of the candidates’ stances on women’s rights. I’m sure Ellie recognized this and if I know anything about Ellie, she gave about 100 office-rants before she became so frustrated with the media’s coverage she decided to make media herself. I have always respected the passion of Ellie and other feminist leaders like Dolores Huerta, Gloria Steinem and Kim Gandy. But it is sad that after putting in about 4 decades of work, it is these same women that have to bring the woman’s message to American people in 2008. Will Ellie really have to continue doing this every year? As long as we leave in our "post-sexist" world, I suppose so.