On Tuesday, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez sent out a tweet responding to comments that she and Speaker Nancy Pelosi were involved in a cat fight. AOC attempted to spin the comments back on Republicans in a continuation of the war on women that Democrats have been raging for quite some time.
She spins the cat fight comments into a statement accusing Kellyanne Conway of being sexist and that it’s Republicans fault for not electing enough women. Democrats have consistently argued that Republicans are against women in regards to women’s rights, such as workplace discrimination, abortion, and prosecution of violence against women.
The popularity of the term came about in the late 90’s and early 2000’s. Feminist Andrea Dworkin’s coined the term and since many Democratic leaders have jumped into this supposed 20 year war on women that Republicans have been accused of waging. If you study the facts, the claims are misleading.
Republicans have been leaders in rights for women for quite some time. It was Republicans who first elected a female to Congress. In 1917, Jeanette Rankin became the first female in Congress as a Republican representative from the state of Montana. As you research into the parties of those being represented by women, the election totals for women was nearly identical until the phrase “war on women” was coined and started to be used in the early 2000’s by Democrats. Since then, there has been a consistent number of Republican women, but a significant increase in Democratic women in Congress.
Republicans also led the way for women’s right to vote. The 19th amendment was proposed in 1919 and was ratified by Republican majority leadership in 28 of the 36 states that approved the Constitutional amendment. Representative James Mann, a Republican from Illinois, proposed the amendment on May 21, 1919. To hear the Democrats tell this history, Republicans have been doing nothing but attempting to suppress women voters but the Democrats were the ones against women’s rights to vote.
The stories of Republicans leading the way throughout history continue in 1964 when Republican Margaret Chase Smith was the first female candidate for a major party’s nomination. Republicans were also the first to put a female candidate on a party’s ticket with Sarah Palin in 2008 as John McCain’s running mate.
Democrats would like to argue that Republicans are also raging a war on women’s reproductive rights. If you research, you will find that Republicans actually supported abortion up until 1976. First Lady Ford and Vice President Rockefeller were both strong advocates of abortion. It was during the 1972 Presidential campaign that Richard Nixon’s campaign recognized the group of pro-life American’s that were not represented by either political party and the party platform was changed at the GOP convention in 1976. For our stance, The Liberty Loft completely supports this pro-life move.
The “war on women” that Democrats continue suggesting is simply not true. Republicans have long been leaders in regards to women’s rights. While the abortion argument comes to mind of late, the move by the GOP was more to appeal to religious freedom and an unrepresented group of American’s than it was to wage “war on women.”
You can contact JD through the Liberty Loft website or by Twitter.
