Another year, another Women’s March. While the official website for the movement clarified the March’s purpose, it appears that those marching did not get the message. The result was a massive wasted effort that came off as ongoing bitterness towards President Donald J. Trump, and lacking in actionable directives for helping women suffering in other countries.
This isn’t to say that there isn’t value in an assembly of like-minded individuals. Whether it be a group of American ex-pats in a foreign country, walking amongst fellow Jews in a park in Jerusalem on Shabbat, or women marching side by side, the interpersonal rewards are real – a feeling of belonging, of solidarity, of being with one’s own.
The problem, based on mainstream media reporting around the country, was that marchers seem to be misdirecting their energy. Business Insider published its “53 Most Eye Catching Signs”, which mostly mock the President, or call him Hitler, or all the usual things he is called; or demanding rights that everyone in America already enjoys.
Indeed, either most of the issues raised in Women’s March “Unity Principles” have already been codified into law; the issues themselves don’t actually exist; or they demand something which is illegal for a pretty good reason. It’s also a shame that the Democrats who founded the movement so often engage in hypocrisy that it renders their call for equality hollow.
As for issues protected by law (for which only an extremely improbable SCOTUS reversal or Constitutional Amendment would reverse): abortion; gay marriage; non-discrimination hiring based on gender, race, ethnicity, disability, or sexual orientation; right to organize; voting rights; freedom of worship; sovereign immunity; civil rights; and clear air and water are among them yet still demanded under the Principles.
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Indeed, there is the ludicrous claim that the 14th Amendment has been “undermined by courts and cannot produce real equity on the basis of race and/or sex”. It was that same Amendment that gave SCOTUS the ammo to approve both same-sex marriage and civil rights.
There are some issues mentioned in which disparity may appear to exist, but on closer review, which often includes controlling for multiple variables, those disparities disappear.
Take the alleged gender pay gap, which claims that women are paid 80% of what men earn. PayScale, a firm that gathers salary data and makes it available to companies so that informed and transparent salaries can be determined, says the gap is closer to 1 - 4%, depending on the job.Sure, that can be evened out, but it is hardly the gross injustice claimed.
There is also a strange contradiction in the Principles, in that they all demand that laws be passed to protect one group or another, yet call for ignoring the Rule of Law when it comes to illegal immigration: “Migration is a human right and no human is illegal”.
Try entering another country without a passport or visa and see how that goes. Or perhaps a Liberal Jewish woman can waltz into Gaza. I’m sure that will turn out well.
Speaking of Jews, there are notable omissions from the Principles. While demanding a society in which Black, Native, lesbian, and Muslim women (among others) are “free and able to care for and nurture their families”, there is the clear omission of Jewish women. Apparently, if a group exceeds 2.5 million people, they don’t qualify.
No, that can’t be it because there are 18 million Black women in the US. It must be something else. Were Leftists not notorious for being anti-Zionist and therefore anti-Semitic, I’d make an inflammatory statement here.Maybe that explains why Golda Meir is not mentioned in the list of “revolutionary leaders” that inspired the March.
Apparently the Principles also demand freedom of speech for all citizens. I’m guessing the women who shut down or even assaulted Conservative and Jewish speakers – Ben Shapiro, Charles Murray, Ann Coulter, Heather MacDonald, Milo Yiannopolous, Gavin McInnes, Danny Danon, Rabbi Daniel Lapin, Robert Spencer -- didn’t get the memo. I can only imagine what would have happened to a Conservative Jewish man who showed up at the march demanding his right to free speech, or for Israel to be left alone by “Palestinian” terrorists.
Therein lie the fundamental flaws of the Women’s March, and the problem with Democrats in general.It’s all about emotional outrage and projection. America is not perfect, but if you read the Principles and watched the Marches, you’d think American women are practically slaves.
In fact, it sends a really awful message to women and teenage girls – of which I am the father of two.The March tells women they are second-class citizens when they are not, something eerily reminiscent of what race hustlers like Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson engage in. Where are signs showing history’s greatest women? Where are the speakers talking about all the great things women have accomplished? Why so relentlessly focused not only on the negative, but on things that aren’t even real?
As a result, there were great opportunities missed, including something that should define the Women’s March: the treatment of women outside the United States, particularly in Arab countries.
We already know Democrats hate Trump. So why not replace the “Trump is _______” signs with “Free Women from Sharia Law” signs?
Imagine what real change could look like in certain Arab countries if women: weren’t forced to wear hijabs; were allowed to use makeup; were allowed to drive, travel, marry, or work without consent of a “guardian”; go for a swim; compete freely in sports; didn’t have to mutilate their genitals; couldn’t be legally beaten or raped by their husbands; weren’t lawfully permitted to be forced into marriage as a pre-pubescent; weren’t legally permitted to be murdered under the pretense of “honor killing”; weren’t stoned for adultery; or weren’t subjected to countless other truly inhumane and legal discrimination.
Another missed opportunity: how about presenting a comprehensive plan on how to reduce sexual harassment, both in the workplace and everyday life? Women also face an unintentional blowback by men who may now fear hiring or interacting with women in the workplace. How can this issue be addressed in a manner where everyone can live and work together and push America forward?
Alas, it is exactly because Democrats are unhappy people that great opportunities like this will be repeatedly squandered. Instead of women looking around and feeling empowered by what they have accomplished, and how many men actually support them, they will be repeatedly browbeaten with how they mean nothing.
So who is subjugating whom exactly? Look to the Left for the answer.
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