Sadly, if perhaps not entirely surprisingly, the referendum in San Francisco for decriminalisation of sex work was defeated. But, say its proponents, they are getting closer.
Less seriously, but also sadly, a move to name the city’s sewage works after George W Bust was also defeated.
And in New Zealand, the pretty solidly leftwing prime minister Helen Clarke has been beaten by a rightwinger. That leaves only five women at the head of governments around the world.
But, says Katha Pollitt in an interesting and not entirely tongue-in-cheek piece in the Nation, the presence of Sarah Pallin on the US stage has had positive effects:
Palin’s presence on the Republican ticket forced family-values conservatives to give public support to working mothers, equal marriages, pregnant teens and their much-maligned parents. Talk-show frothers, Christian zealots and professional antifeminists–Rush Limbaugh and Phyllis Schlafly–insisted that a mother of five, including a “special-needs” newborn, could perfectly well manage governing a state (a really big state, as we were frequently reminded), while simultaneously running for veep and, who knows, field-dressing a moose.
About
5 Comments