Women have taken over this election cycle. We’ve heard over and over again the fake outrage from Democrats that Republicans want to force women into back alleys, make sure they’re treated unfairly at work, and turn back the clock on women’s rights. Every once in a while, this dialogue needs some perspective.
Malala Yousufzai, a 14 year old Pakistani girl, was shot by the Taliban on October 9th for speaking out and advocating for the education of girls. Not a radical view, but one that the Taliban felt merited a shot in the head. As she recovers slowly, the region continues to see an obscene amount of violence against women. Pakistan is the third most dangerous country for women, not far from the top spot holder Afghanistan.
But the violence isn’t confined to just those two states. The entire region is plagued with anti-women sentiment. On Wednesday, young girls in Cairo had their haircut as punishment for refusing to wear headscarves at school.
These countries are unsafe for women. This will continue to be the case if President Obama is re-elected. He has turned his back on the women of the world, given a green light to radical uprisings in the Middle East that place power with those who hold dangerous views for women of all ages. In Egypt, he gave full support to their revolution. This is Article 68 of the Constitution that the government our President supports is almost done drafting:
“The state shall take all measures to establish the equality of women and men in the areas of political, cultural, economic and social life, as well as all other areas, insofar as this does not conflict with the rulings of Islamic Shariah.”
As Roger Cohen pointed out, this is the same as saying, “We commit to equality between the sexes except when we don’t.”
In addition to supporting groups who write that level of discrimination into their founding documents, he has set a date to pull out completely from Afghanistan. Our presence in the region has sparked a dramatic increase in the access of education for girls and it is not clear if that progress would be sustainable if we leave now.
The state of women is horrendous under this administration. If you’re really voting because you care about women’s rights and not just because you want cheaper birth control, you would not vote for Obama.
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