Women and politics

"No one can make you feel inferior

without your consent"

                                                            -Eleanor Roosevelt

When I was young this quote made no sense to me. I'd never admit that back then, many things didn't make sense. It took me 50 plus years to understand that anytime someone says something critical, unkind or dis-spiriting to me, I have a choice. I can agree or disagree. And by agreeing I am choosing to become whatever it is they said. That has been a painful journey. Because I was always "so sensitive". As though it was a dis-ease, a malady, something to be ashamed of. I was a 'pollyanna'. 
No wonder some women are hard. Because being sensitive is a sign of weakness rather than a sign of womanliness. Of being feminine. Of being amazing. Yet, when we are young we were bombarded with disrespect of this gift by being called, "cry baby, weak, sensitive, thin-skinned, pathetic", words we so often hear associated with bullying today. As we get older, if we manage to sustain this gift, are responsive, and haven't become hardened by shutting down how we feel, there are  drugs that can help us to dull the beauty of  being  awake as a woman. 
The women we are forced to admire are the stoic ones, the ones that are rigid, staunch, sinless, 'wear the pants', keep their thoughts to themselves, especially in politics. 
History rarely tells the truth about the women that have impacted the world. They turned Cleopatra into a conniving hussy even though she spoke 12 languages, was educated in mathematics, economics, philosophy and astronomy and ruled Egypt for most of her adult life.
Who are your woman heroes (or sheroes) today? What rings out for you about them? Is it their intelligence, their words, their beauty, their actions? When you find yourself 'judging' another woman, are you actually seeing the real person or creating a story around what you think they should be like?

I see a lot of stuff on facebook that concerns me about how woman are viewed in politics. When you consider  that women, who have been a part of the working class for 40 or more years- raising families, working,  running households-we are barely represented in government.There are only 20 female senators to the 100 men in the Senate and in the House of Reps that number is 76 to 362 men. 

Think about that. And think about the fact that in the hands of the present and past male oriented government we have been at war everyday for most of our lives. In the history of our country we have been at war 93% of the time, that is 222 years out of 235. There have only been 21 years without war. Hmm, something to think about.
 I think it's time for a change. But maybe, I'm just too sensitive. Maybe, women are just inferior. And then again, probably NOT.

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