HER-story: The Story So Far

March, 2011 is Women's History Month. The theme this year, Our History is Our Strength, looks back to the accomplishments of women in the past. It celebrates achievements and reclaims accomplishments that have been ignored, disdained or denied. Learn about the tenacity, courage and creativity of women throughout the ages to find strength, to find role models for everyone.

I have a complicated relationship with national anything months. I agree with their goals, in general. I am a willing and happy participant. Many ... History Months are an admission of guilt, however. We, as a culture have overlooked major contributions by members of a suspect class either through sheer ignorance or outright malice. Though I can't claim to be a participant in the whitewashing of history (no pun intended), I share that collective guilt which I'm not certain is a proper motivation for highlighting and celebrating accomplishments. Further, these celebrations often conceal the fact that though we take steps toward equality, progress is difficult to measure and often backward momentum is overlooked.

So while we rightly study the struggles of women in history qua Women in History, it is also worthwhile to look at the current state of affairs. With that goal in mind I submit the following information about the state of gender equality in the US:

• For equivalent work women average $0.80 to a man's $1.00
  
• Both houses of Congress are represented by 17% women
  
• There are 89 countries with a higher percentage of women legislators (US rank: 72)
  
• Rwanda has 56% women in their lower house alone
  
• Countries where we claim to be nation building, Iraq and Afghanistan, have more women representatives
  
• Countries where we have identified human rights concerns, Cuba and China, have more women representatives
  
• Less than 5% of Fortune 500 companies are run or owned by women
  
• 7% of top grossing Hollywood films are directed by women
  
• 10% of Hollywood films are written by women

Ask yourself, do the accomplishments of Hillary Rodham Clinton or Nancy Pelosi, monumental as they are, really show that much progress against such a yardstick? The fact that they stand out so much indicates that we may not be making the strides toward equality with which we credit ourselves. This concern is amplified when we turn our attention to the regress we've seen lately:

• The 2010 midterm election saw the first drop in women legislators since 1979
  
• HR 3, if passed would not only reinforce existing policy on abortion funding, but redefine "rape" so as to further restrict access to legal abortions
  
• HR 217, if passed would prohibit Title X funds from being granted to any organization that pays directly or otherwise funds providers that perform abortion services. Planned Parenthood, which already segregates goverment funding from their abortion services (less than 2% of their operations) would receive ZERO DOLLARS to cover contraceptives, pelvic exams, breast exams, safer-sex counseling, and basic infertility counseling
  
• HR 358, if passed, would prevent funds from the Affordable Care Act from covering any health plan that provides abortion services

Worse, (only because legislation meant to restrict access to women's health services but would functionally increase unsafe, unsanitary abortions stands little to no chance of passing) we give equal attention, equal praise, to the likes of Michele Bachmann and Sarah Palin as the aforementioned Clinton and Pelosi. Let me be clear, Palin and Bachmann are dunderheads who lack the basic knowledge in reading, math, geography, history, poli sci, and law required for the leadership roles they have/had.

So as we celebrate generations of accomplishment and progress, let's do so with awareness. Progress is slow and it is up to us to make it go faster. If we want our daughters to be as successful as our sons we need to fix wage disparities. We need to remove from office any representative who thinks he/she knows better about personal health decisions. And for the love of all things we must not--MUST NOT be guilted into thinking the Palins and the Bachmanns are role models. Anyone who quits the job with which the people of her state trusted her, for a reality show, is no role model.