There I was, talking back to the television again. Waving my hands and raising my voice as though I could get the newscaster’s attention. My husband walked into the room and I attempted to enlist him in my incredulous reaction.
“Look at this. It’s a roomful of men, testifying before congress about contraception.”
My husband looks down at the floor and nods his head. This fuels the energy of my reaction further.
“Some of the men are priests, celibate priests. What do they know about contraception?”
My husband scoops up our dog Clancy, sits down on the sofa and begins petting him. As my enthusiasm elevates the tone of my voice, I say, “Clancy knows more about contraception than those men. Where are the women?”
As if to demonstrate my point that this topic needs a woman’s touch, my husband smiles softly, continues petting the dog, and nods his head in agreement.
The next day the front page of the newspaper sported, above the fold, a large picture of this group of mostly elder white men. They must have interrupted their discussion of contraception for this photo opportunity. I looked closely into their faces.“Do any of these guys have any awareness of how bizarre this is.? Did anyone think to invite a couple of women, if for no other reason than to give this group a modicum of credibility?
Finally yesterday, I got an email from Emily’s List, the organization dedicated to helping women run for public office. Thank heaven, somebody else noticed besides me.
“Yesterday morning, an all-male panel of religious leaders testified in front of a Congressional committee about birth control coverage. That’s right, only men — who are not doctors, by the way — were allowed to testify by the GOP leadership about critical women’s health coverage. No women.”
Thanks to whoever organized that group of men. They’ve provided a kick in the pants to those of us who have been expecting the 445 men and 93 women in congress to effectively represent the nearly 51 per cent of U. S citizens who are female. Get thee to Emily’s List or another organization that can help us fix this. http://emilyslist.org/splash/speakout/splash01/
