The GOP Has A Problem...With Women

Published October 14, 2009 @ 08:18PM PT

The GOP has a women's problem. Besides using women as props in elections and on websites, making derogatory remarks about them on television and generally looking like the party of "crazy white men" (see Glenn Beck, Michael Savage or Rush Limbaugh) - there are a lot of additional reasons why women have been running away from the Republican party in droves.

Just take a look at some of these statistics and examples:

Unmarried women delivered a stunning 70 to 29 percent margin to Barack Obama and delivered similarly strong margins in races for Congress and the U.S. Senate. The 2008 election represented the highest margin recorded and a 16-point net gain at the Presidential level from 2004.

Women More Likely to Be Democrats, Regardless of Age: A new Gallup analysis of almost 150,000 interviews conducted from January through May of this year sheds new light on the substantial gender gap that exists in American politics today. Not only are women significantly more likely than men to identify as Democrats, and less likely to identify as independents, but -- with only slight variation -- this gap is evident across all ages, from 18 to 85, and within all major racial, ethnic, and marital-status segments of society.

GOP Senators Abandons Rape Victims: On the Senate floor, Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) spoke against the amendment, calling it “a political attack directed at Halliburton.” Franken responded, “This amendment does not single out a single contractor. This amendment would defund any contractor that refuses to give a victim of rape their day in court.”

In Health Care debate GOP Senator says: "I don't need maternity care," Kyl said. "So requiring that on my insurance policy is something that I don't need and will make the policy more expensive." Stabenow interrupted: "I think your mom probably did.

Republican women are a minority in a minority: Out of 435 members of the House, just 17 are Republican women. Of 99 sitting senators, just four are Republican women.

And despite all this, it seems that Kathleen Parker has determined that in order to become relevant - the Republican party needs to start attracting, engaging and soliciting women:

If the GOP is really serious about expanding the party, it's time for the men to hush and let the pros take over. As the saying goes: If you need something done, hire a busy woman. Or, as the White House Project puts it: "Add women, change everything."

While I have to agree with her logic, there is a big chunk of methodology missing. How is she planning to change all of the statistics laid out above? While I think the "add women, change everything" motto is true - it is only effective if you're actually making a genuine effort to speak to women, meet them where they are at, and engage on their issues. So far, I haven't seen any of this from members of the Republican party - except for Olympia Snowe, one of the few female leaders in the GOP, with her vote for health care reform in the Finance Committee this week.

So then, the question becomes: could it be too late for Republicans to make a comeback with women?

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Comments (9)

and of course the far right is throwing fits over Snow's "betrayal".

Posted by Sophia Daniels on 10/15/2009 @ 11:19AM PT
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I agree with you wholeheartedly! The GOP does have a big problem with women. There are a whole handful of reasons why I believe this is. I have included a link below to the article I wrote back in Feb. on this subject. I am a Republican and plan on running for office someday.

http://kylesisk.typepad.com/sisker/2009/02/the-gops-problem-with-female-candidates.html

Posted by Nicole Beckwith on 10/15/2009 @ 01:57PM PT
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Well miss beckwith...

Thats a fine article that miss rapier wrote...

Now...Where do you stand on the following issues ?

1 : Gay Rights

2 : Women's Rights

3 : The Enviroment

4 : National Defense

5 : Health Care

6 : Relations with other countries

Posted by Thomas McHugh on 10/19/2009 @ 04:03PM PT
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Rapier was my married name, I am now divorced and using my maiden name.

Here are the short answers to your questions...

1. I do not believe in gay marriage, but do believe that same sex couples should have specific rights pertaining to their partners. Especially on health care issues.

2. As my article states I believe that womens rights have come a long way but there is still a ways to go.

3. We need to protect our environment. I am not however a "treehugger" but do believe we need environmental protections in place in our legislation.

4. National defense is something I am extremely passionate about. We need a strong defense and right now Obama is trying to cut it virtually in half which would be the first time ever in history this would be done during a time of war. I am in agreement with Congressman Turners (R-OH) act...

Turner co-introduced a bill earlier this year with Congressman Jim Marshall, D-Georgia entitled, “The NATO First Act.” you can check it out here... http://tinyurl.com/yfuocmg

The Obama Administration has reduced homeland anti-ballistic missile funding by $1.2 billion this year. With the very real threats we are facing from the middle east and others we need these defenses in place.

5. Health care definitely needs to be reformed, but not as the current bill is written.

6. We do need to work with foreign countries to strengthen our alliances and work together. I do not feel that we should vigorously pursue relations in certain countries, but do need to find ways to come to agreement.

I will ask the same questions of you. I realize these are brief and vague but give you some idea of where I stand. Thank you for reading my article.

Posted by Nicole Beckwith on 10/19/2009 @ 05:31PM PT
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Thank you for both clarifying and responding miss beckworth.

Here are my answers.

1 : I believe in equality for all with harm to none and am 100 % in favor of same sex marriage.

2 : Im 100 % in favor of women being equal with men in all arenas.

3 : I believe we should focus less on corporate profits and more on protecting our enviroment from being exploited to death.

4 : National defense is important to me although I believe we should focus on dealing with our own household before we deal with others and to that end, at least in part, we should do away with D.A.D.T. and D.O.M.A.

5 : As you say...Health care does need an overhaul and in that regard, we should leave all health insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies out of the discussion and let the american citizens decide what they want above all else as they would be the recipients of it.

6 : I believe that we dont need to be telling other countries how to run themselves but that we do need to maintain as much of a friendly/respectfull relationship with them as possible AND expect the same in return.

Your welcome.

Posted by Thomas McHugh on 10/21/2009 @ 05:20PM PT
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The republicons are gonna have to grow up first if they ever expect to be able to hold any adult conversations let alone any with women.

Posted by Thomas McHugh on 10/15/2009 @ 03:46PM PT
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While I agree with "add women, change everything"... you have to be careful when you use that.

You can add 100 women to congress, but if those women follow traditional gender roles, think like men, etc. then you have achieved nothing.

It's like saying: add minorities. If those minorities come in with elitist, oppressive mentalities, then you don't get anywhere.

Posted by Juan Portillo on 10/16/2009 @ 11:22AM PT
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Good point mr. portillo.

Posted by Thomas McHugh on 10/17/2009 @ 12:14PM PT
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The GOP is so old school that's it's not even funny anymore. It never really was to be honest with you. Woman has rights to and it appears that the GOP is very sexist. It's so not right!!! I'm so tired of the GOP period. Democrats for ever!!!

Posted by Christopher Allen on 10/27/2009 @ 01:12PM PT
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Author

Jen Nedeau is a social media consultant, progressive activist, feminist speaker and writer. She currently lives in New York City, where she works full-time as the Director of Digital Strategy at Air America Media. In August 2008, Nedeau was selected to be the Editor of the WomensRights.Change.Org where she facilitates daily discussion about the feminist movement. Additionally, Nedeau volunteers as the Chief Technology Officer for New Leaders Council, a non-profit that offers exclusive training for young leaders. You can follow her on Twitter @HumanFolly or learn more here: www.jennedeau.com.