By the late 1970s, about 60% of the world's population lived under
socialist rule. But following the implosion of the Soviet Empire in
1991, global socialism fell into sharp decline. As a social, economic,
and political experiment, socialism was an utter failure.
But history has a way of turning irony on its head.
In spite of socialism's hollow claim to improve the lot the working
class, it was a bunch of blue collar workers who brought about the fall
of Communism.
Their hero was Lech Walesa, the gutsy Polish electrician who organized
sit-down strikes in the factories in Gdansk.
By 1990, Communist rule had collapsed in Poland. And in quick
succession, Communism in other countries in the Soviet bloc toppled.
And I'm going to predict that just as the workers rose up against the
evil of socialism, it will be women who spearhead the demise of radical
feminism.
Actually, that prediction is not as bold as it sounds.
After years of being told how to think and act about gender issues,
women have already begun to express their disillusionment with the
radical feminist experiment.
That distain was spearheaded by the much-maligned Phyllis Schlafly. In
1972, after reading the proposed Equal Rights Amendment, Schlafly asked
women this tantalizing question: "Why should we lower ourselves to
'equal rights' when we already have the status of special privilege?"
Schlafly explained women's "special privilege" this way: "A man can
search 30-40 years for accomplishment in his profession. A woman can
enjoy real achievement when she is young by having a baby."
Before long, American women came to realize that the Equal Rights
Amendment would eliminate the many privileges of being female, such as
exemption from the military draft.
And with that, the ERA was finished.
But the radical feminists would not be deterred. So they came up with a
new game plan: convince women that they could only find personal
fulfillment by leaving the home and entering the workforce. And over the
next 20 years, record numbers of women earned degrees in medicine, law,
and business.
But when these women started to ascend the corporate ladder, many found
that their aspirations of career success forced them to place their
maternal instincts on hold. As Joan Williams recently wrote in the
Harvard Women's Law Journal, "Many women never get near" the top because
"they are stopped long before by the maternal wall."
National statistics confirm this groundswell of female discontent with
the corporate rat race. According to recent US Census figures, nearly
10.6 million kids were being raised by full-time stay-at-home moms, up
13% in a decade. And the number of new mothers who go back to work fell
from a high of 59% in 1998 to 55% two years later.
The worst news for the Sisterhood is that women have gotten organized
against gender feminism:
- In 2002 the
Concerned
Women of America played a major role in blocking
passage of the UN Convention on the Elimination of Discrimation Against
Women in the US Congress.
- The Clare Luce Booth Institute openly ridicules "the feminist premise
that women are victims in an oppressive patriarchal society."
- The Independent Women's Forum has taken an even more aggressive
approach to their anti-feminist campaign. Last May 15, the IWF threw
down this challenge: "Memo to NOW: Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid."
So have you ever wondered why growing numbers of women are speaking out
against fem-socialism? Simple -- because radical feminism tramples on
the most basic instincts and needs of women.
