President
Bush’s Ken-Doll Performance An Insult To Women
By Lucinda Marshall
16 March, 2006
Countercurrents.org
President
Bush used the occasion of International Women’s Day to tout his
administration’s commitment to women. He spoke in glowing terms
of how bringing democracy to the Middle East had improved the lives
of women in Afghanistan and Iraq. Both the President and Mrs. Bush (this
was a day for women after all) talked enthusiastically about girls going
to school and women participating in government in both countries.
Neither however mentioned
the continuing pandemic of sexual violence against women that was highlighted
in the State Department’s report on Afghanistan’s continuing
poor record on human rights that was released the following day. Nor
was anything said about the continuing low literacy rates for women
in Afghanistan (less than 20%) or that 50% of marriages in that country
take place before girls reach the age of sixteen.
It was far too dangerous
for women to gather in Baghdad to celebrate IWD as they did last year
and there has been an horrific escalation of sexual violence against
women in Iraq since the U.S. invasion. The undemocratic imprisonment
of women in Iraq and Afghanistan in violation of the Geneva Convention
and the denial of visas for Iraqi women who were invited by Code Pink
to come to the U.S. to talk about conditions in Iraq did not figure
in the President’s remarks
The illusory accomplishments
on behalf of women achieved by the Bush Administration is of course
not limited to Afghanistan and Iraq. The first couple also talked about
anti-viral drugs being provided to women with HIV in Africa. No mention
was made of the administration’s refusal to fund family planning
programs that would provide condoms to protect women before they got
HIV/AIDS. Nor was mention made of any steps being taken to help the
hundreds of thousands of women who die every year from the complications
of childbirth or of anything being done to help the 700 million women
in the world who live in unsanitary conditions without adequate and
safe food and water.
The President took great
pains to recognize the women in his cabinet and his administration as
well as Republican Congresswoman who was present. He also paid tribute
to the women leading governments in Germany, Chile, the Philippines
and Liberia. But the reality is that women are still overwhelmingly
under-represented in government both here and throughout the world.
Mentioning that women are the heads of state in four countries doesn’t
seem quite so impressive when you consider that there are 193 countries
in the world. In our own country, women hold only 24.7% of state leadership
and only eight states having female governors. The House of Representatives
currently has 61 women and there are 13 female senators.
But what was most obviously
missing from the President’s remarks was any mention whatsoever
of what his administration is doing for women in this country. The reason
for this omission is not hard to comprehend, he just doesn’t have
much to brag about. As Ms. Magazine Money Editor Martha Burk points
out, Bush’s budget proposal says it all. After signing the reauthorization
of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) with great hoopla, President
Bush’s budget proposal proceeded to cut $20 million in VAWA funding
and provided no funding for new programs created by the legislation
that would assist victims of domestic violence. The food program run
by the Agriculture Department that provides nutrition for pregnant women
and babies would be cut and Medicare benefit reductions of $29 billion
would hit women the hardest. Ironically, as Burk notes, there is still
plenty of money for marriage promotion and erectile dysfunction drugs.
The reality is that this
administration has significantly jeopardized the lives of women both
here and around the world. President Bush’s fawning attempt to
frame himself as a champion of women is not only delusional, his remarks
on International Women’s Day were an affront to women everywhere.
Lucinda Marshall
is a feminist
artist, writer and activist. She is the Founder of the Feminist Peace
Network, www.feministpeacenetwork.org.