WOMEN HAVE A RIGHT TO BE WOMEN

by Fr. Jim Whalen

2002, Issue 3

Strange as it may seem, the greatest opposition to the right of women to be women appears to come from women. Some women have confused false feminism with true feminism. Their gender agenda, built on the liberal or equity feminism of the early 1960s, resulted in many women suffering needlessly at the hands of other women.

The importance of the family was ignored as the basic cell or social unit of society. Motherhood was under attack by mothers. In this process of so-called equal treatment, interesting enough, the oppressed and the oppressors were one and the same gender in many instances. The denial of the differences between the sexes de-emphasized the family and found many unfortunately depending on big government solutions to the problems of women.

The limitations of this liberal feminism became easily apparent to real women – fulltime mothers did not see themselves deprived of opportunities for full or equal partnership in society. They did not accept the label of second-class citizens, trapped in subordinate or subservient roles that the confused feminists assigned to them. Many women want to be home - engaged in full-time motherhood. This gives the freedom to control their time and energy. A real partnership in marriage does not require equal employment or housework. True feminists advocate freedom to decide what works for them. They do not agree with the ‘gender agenda feminists’, who use the legislative process to enforce their agenda, which advocates that women should have to work outside the home. This actively promotes a radical feminist ideology to restructure society as a whole. True Feminists reject the hidden gender agenda that every woman should work outside the home today. They maintain that families and life must be supported and protected, and that all women have the right to choose motherhood as their primary vocation.

The following is the Motherhood Manifesto, which states clearly the case for true feminism. It was circulated by Genevieve Kineke, editor of ‘Hearth Magazine’ to delegates as lobbying materials for the Cairo and Beijing conferences. She is a full-time mother who homeschools two of her children (The Gender Agenda, Dale O’Leary, Vital Issues Press, 1997, pp. 142-144). ¤