WOMEN'S RIGHTS AND THE 2012 ELECTION

Oh my gosh!   I don't know where to start on this subject because there are so many issues.   

Let's start at the beginning.   The matter of women's rights is being moved around like a pawn on the 2012 election chessboard.   Sanctimonious right wing politicians are using the controversy which surrounds religion vs abortion and contraception to garner votes.   The right to contraception or abortion is a deeply personal matter and as far as I am concerned, has absolutely nothing to do with politics, politicians or elections.    I must ask the question again.   Why are candidates not focusing on social, economic, security, international and environmental issues?   The very fact that they are focusing on women's rights, at the expense of these much more important things makes me think that just maybe they don't have enough to say about them. 

I want to bring the whole issue of "women's rights" into perspective.    It occurred to me today that there's something fundamentally inaccurate here.   Matters of abortion and contraception are definitely rights we could all exercise at some time of our lives.   But - why only women?   Surely those same issues face men as well.   OK, obviously not the physical act of having an abortion - but certainly there must be men out there who have made decisions regarding whether or not to procreate.      By association, it's entirely possible that men have had to make a joint decision with their partners.    What we do also know is that for heaven only knows how long, men have used contraception.   I am sure that I would be rich, rich, rich if I had a nickel for every time a man exercised his right to contraception, in spite of his religious beliefs or what was prescribed by his church.

So.................... this is how I see it.   We have potential leaders of an extremely powerful nation focusing on something as fundamental as women's rights to deeply personal issues of contraception and abortion thereby making these issues political.    And guess what?   These leaders just happen to be members of the opposite sex.   Men use contraception.   Why don't those same leaders focus on men practicing contraception.   I think there is more to take away from this than what is being said.  We should all listen to what is not being said.  

I hear that these leaders are saying it's perfectly OK for men to exercise their rights to contraception - irrespective of their religious beliefs.   That's wrong on every level.   

I grew up in South Africa during the apartheid years.    Once we transitioned as a nation, I became acutely aware of the privileged life we all enjoyed as white South Africans prior to the transition.   What I am trying to say here is that we enjoyed that privileged life even though we did not recognize it to be so at the time.  

Well I think that our aspiring right wing leaders are suffering from a similar condition.   They've had it so good for so long and they don't ACT like they see things have evolved.     It's not rocket science to see that these politicians are discriminating.    They are still lording it over the opposite sex and THAT does not auger well for the future of this country!