Economics, National Defense Displace Liberals' So-Called "Women's Issues"

Renowned pollster Kellyanne Conway, founder and president of the polling company/WomanTrend, spoke to a packed auditorium of women at the monthly Conservative Women’s Network on July 15th at the Heritage Foundation about just how apparent it has become that traditional liberal “women’s issues” continue to decline as fiscal issues rise. Women all over the country are unshackling the chains of liberal feminism and embracing their femininity in their drive to build a more optimistic America for their children and grandchildren.



Poll data is showing that women are becoming increasingly what Mrs. Conway calls “gender neutral” when it comes to the workforce and professional life. Women in the workplace are no longer feeling that “men are keeping them down” and in some cases even prefer a male boss in a down economy.

Unlike liberal feminists, today’s women declining to use their gender as a crutch and prefer to be treated as the equal individuals that they are. They are not inclined to accept a “women’s advantage” in the home and in professional life. Mrs. Conway cited the recent Wal-Mart v. Dukes case as illustrative of this point. She discussed with the audience how the outcome of the case, which decided that female Wal-Mart employees could not be categorized as a “class,” showed that women are beginning to reject collectivism-minded feminism and embrace an inherently conservative individualism.

Mrs. Conway, a successful business owner and mother of four, also pointed out to attendees the very real fact that the majority of household budget decisions are made by women. This gives women a unique perspective on the growing national issues of national debt, taxes, and the success of the economy in general. Polls are indicating that women are no longer primarily concerned with abortion, as liberal feminists would like us to believe, and are, instead, highly concerned with the economy and how elected officials can put America on the road to recovery.

Feminist “women’s issues,” primarily revolving around abortion, have given way to the much larger issues of tax policy, war and national defense, and the national debt. Mrs. Conway points out that as these have risen as top national priorities over the last 10 years, so has women’s political ascendancy.

This fact, more than anything else, shows just how far removed from reality liberal feminists have become. America’s women are proving to be formative policy advocates for economic and defense issues and increasingly disinterested in feminists’ pro-abortion agenda.

— posted by Catherine Helsley