All the Childless Ladies

All the Childless Ladies

(Cat Ladies)

In today’s bitter political culture, there’s a school of thought that says that college presidents should have nothing to say about any important political issues.  This effort to repress our freedom of speech comes from claims that college presidents are so intimidating that any expression of opinions on our part will cause students to lock themselves trembling in their dorm rooms and faculty will cower under their desks in fear.  As. If.

So!  I’ll play along and not express any opinions on the current candidates for high office in the United States.  I will not say that, among flawed choices all the way around, I will vote for the candidate who espouses policies that are most likely to help people — especially those who are marginalized in our society — the candidate who stands for justice, equity and freedom for all.  Not saying who I will vote for!  And I am not saying that I will not vote for a candidate who is a convicted felon.  Not saying who I will not vote for!!

But I do feel compelled to say something about a candidate for the second highest office in the land who trashes me and women like me.  I am compelled to state unequivocally that a candidate who trashes childless women has no business being on a national ticket.  Indeed, that candidate should slink away in shame and disgrace.  Such an ignorant misogynist cannot possibly be part of the leadership structure of this nation.

Now, it’s true that at first I let it go when I heard that this candidate first complained about “childless cat ladies” running the country.   I don’t have children and I also don’t have cats.  (I do have mice, and perhaps a few cats would fix that problem! But that’s a story for another day…)

A stupid, throw-away taunt like that did not seem worth dignifying with a response.

But now it seems that the same candidate at another time said that childless women are “all fundamentally atheist or agnostic…they have no real value system” except to promote gender and racial equity “stuff” that he likens to a disease.  And, such women, he claims, are “miserable.”

And, by the way, he seems especially perturbed that such childless women are teaching children  – “brainwashing our children” was his phrase for childless women who are teachers.

Tell that to Sr. Bridgeta, Sr. Mary Richard, Sr. Joseph Miriam, Sr. Rosario, Sr. Juanita, Sr. Antoinette Marie, Sr. Mary, Sr. Margaret, Sr. Martha, Sr. Ann, Sr. Lucille, Sr. Marcella, Sr. Gertrude Marie, Sr. Regina and all of the great nuns who taught me and millions of Catholic school children across the generations.  All childless women.  Yes, indeed, they did “indoctrinate” us – on right from wrong, how to behave, what to believe, showing respect for others, doing the right thing even when no one was watching.  Oh, and diagramming sentences, calculating diameters and reciting Latin declensions.

They certainly were not atheists, and most seemed happy at least most of the time (except when Wayne threw spitballs that day in third grade and we all had to kneel and pray for his redemption).

Many of us, their students, followed in their footsteps to become teachers and school leaders.  Some of us are women who happen not to have children — a fact that actually gives us a lot more time to care for other people’s children!  Far from being “childless” in a cold, bitter, vacuous way, our lives are quite full with children and young adults every day!  Far from being miserable, most of us are quite happy with our choices, especially in the ways we are able to help “other people’s children” grow and thrive.

The candidate who has made such insulting, ridiculous statements is not ignorant.  Rather, he is deliberately and perniciously denigrating women’s life choices.  This insidious denigration of women’s agency to make life choices is at the heart of some of the most curdled contemporary political strategies.  To be sure, motherhood is a wonderful choice and something we encourage, admire and extol — we all celebrate our mothers and the mothers among us!!.  But not all women choose motherhood, and their life choices are also worthy and important for our society, and life-giving for millions of children in their care.

It’s a short hop-skip-jump from denigrating women’s choices about careers and families to threatening women’s right to make choices at the ballot box.  A century ago, women could not vote in presidential elections in the United States.  In the 21st Century, we thought the days of the suffragette struggles were long gone, but in fact, the struggle for women’s political rights and autonomy has only taken on other forms.

It’s no secret in American political life that powerful political women make some opponents nuts and trigger personal attacks of appalling ugliness.  We remember the treatment of Hillary Clinton, the nation’s first female candidate for president.  The demonization of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (Trinity ’62) was legendary, but her steel spine and determination to exercise her leadership for the nation made her power through every assault against her.

Today, another woman is running for president as her party’s nominee, and the long misogynistic knives are out once more.  This candidate also happens to be a woman of color, adding to the backlash.  She is a stepmother to two children, but has no biological children of her own, thus making her the object of some of the “childless” contemptuous attacks along with attacks on her racial identity.

To her credit, she is ignoring the vituperative rhetoric of her opponents.  But others among us can and should respond.

This should finally be the election where women’s voices, choices and power rise up for the future of our nation and the democracy we steward.  We have choices, and we are free to make them as we wish.  We should exercise our votes mindful of the children of future American generations — whether our own children or “other people’s children” who will depend on our choices for their ability to live in justice, peace and freedom.

My sisters, you have choices!  Vote for the candidate of your choice…. but VOTE!

(Photo credit for image at top of this blog:  Three lioness resting together, heads aligned, on a mound in Masai Mara.)

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  • Shout it out! Bravo! My daughter was a Trinity grad and her strong values sometime embrasse me. I should be stronger and stop equivocating. Woman need to take a strong stand when they know they’re right.

    Diane Kane

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