Larry Summers—A Bad Signal To Women
As a friend of mine bemoaned yesterday, oh why couldn’t the honeymoon have lasted longer? But with the likes of Larry Summers being considered for Secretary of the Treasury, it is quite clear that we need to move immediately towards creating a framework where respect for women’s lives is part of the “Change” that is coming to Washington. Summers, former President of Harvard University, was shown the door after opining that innate differences between men and women might be one reason fewer women succeed in science and math careers. This was hardly Summers only outrageously arrogant white male spew, he is also famously known for suggesting that “under-polluted” developing countries in Africa need more toxic waste.
That Summers is even vaguely being considered for the top Treasury post indicates that the incoming Obama administration has a very status quo top down business first lack of understanding of the current financial disaster and that does not bode well for the likelihood of the necessary change that will be needed to heal the economic health of this nation. Change that will require understanding that the needs of those at the bottom, who all too often are women and children and people of color, must be met and that that cannot be done by pouring money into the exploitive infrastructure of Wall Street.
And while the historic candidacies not only of Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin but also the two-woman Green Party ticket of Cynthia McKinney and Rosa Clemente are hugely significant, we need to not lose track of the fact that during the campaign, the human rights of women were, as is so often the case, reduced for the most part to the false linguistics of the abortion debate and the simplistic assumption that merely having women candidates regardless of their stand on issues of most concern to women was a victory, rather than in the case of the Republican Party, the crass pandering for women’s votes that it was.
And now while we bask in the victory of the election, women are left with little assurance that they will have an equitable place at the table let alone that their concerns will be a fully embodied part of the “Change” we purport to wish to be.
In the weeks leading up to the election, the Center For New Words held a series of townhalls asking women what they want. In a culminating event the night after the election, women were asked to name the issues they would like to see addressed by the new administration. In order to address that question, however, we first need to insure that it is a priority that the voices and needs of women are an integral part of the new administration’s agenda, something that would be far from assured with nominations such as Summers.
Secondly, we cannot consider issues such as childcare, maternity leave, reproductive rights or healthcare as separate matters, they need to be considered as interconnected parts of a comprehensive human rights agenda. The first most critical action that must be taken in that regard is to rescind the Global Gag Rule that will allow the aid that is necessary to literally save the lives of millions of women. We also need to ratify the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and sign off on United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on women, peace and security. The United States is one of the few nations in the world that has agreed to abide by these critical protocols that provide the necessary framework for assuring the human rights of women. Continued strengthening of the Violence Against Women Act VAWA)and passage of I-VAWA, an international version of the bill is also urgently needed. Vice President Elect Joe Biden has been a long time supporter of both VAWA and CEDAW and one would hope that in his new position he would be an even stronger champion of these issues as part of the of the agenda for change.
Finally, in the last few days, efforts have begun to make lists of women who should be a part of the new administration. That it is necessary to make these lists is a testament to the fact that we’ve not come quite that far baby. But necessary it is and there are way too many very capable, qualified women to mention here, but when confronted by the misogyny of the notion that Larry Summers would be an appropriate choice for Secretary of the Treasury, it feels appropriate to offer the name of Naomi Klein, author of the Shock Doctrine who is one of the few people that seems to understand the dynamics of our economic crisis. While she is a Canadian citizen, there does not appear to be a Constitutional requirement that Cabinet members be U.S. citizens and she would be an excellent choice if the Obama administration is truly interested in transformational change.
Update: If you want to let President-elect Obama know that Larry Summers is an unacceptable choice for Treasury Secretary, you can sign a petition here that will be delivered to his transition team.
–Lucinda Marshall
Filed under: Uncategorized, Sheroes, Commentary, Feminism, U.S. Politics, Misogyny, Economics
If he can get the country out of this mess and restore the value of my mutual funds, I don’t give a damn what Larry Summers says about me or any woman (and what he said wan’t THAT bad).
Nonsense. Larry Summers does not pose any threat to the women’s rights movement.
We have learned from Sarah Palin that one can hold a grudge a little too long.
I suppose we also need to disqualify Samantha Powers because she correctly identified Hilary as a “monster”.
Would we go so far as to punish a woman for saying something bad about another woman?
Larry Summers said something stupid. List the names of the top five leaders of the women’s movement and I’ll get back to you with a list of stupid things they’ve said, too.
There are more important things to worry about than the fact that a guy said something dumb.