Feminism's Failure

I recently read part of a biography about an early Australian feminist, Vida Goldstein. I have a long running facination with feminism brought on through attending a university where it seemed to be included in every second class. They thought feminism was fabulous, the liberator of women, etc. I disagreed, and still do. Partly in reaction to what I was taught at university, I strongly oppose most of what they promote.

Here is a quote from the biography, which illustrates the failure of feminism:

“Vida never reconciled the contradictory notions that women would contribute special qualities to the public sphere and that men and women were equal and should be treated equally. There is always the sense that she thought ‘men and women are equal, but women are a bit more equal because they have finer qualities of spirituality and higher-mindedness than men’. It is an appealing philosophy – for women – which is still propounded today: that women will bring the special qualities of nurturing, gentleness, and respect for life into the public sphere."

The promise of feminism simply does not deliver. It would be amusingly ironic, if it was not so sad, that feminism has done the opposite of what proponents originally argued for. Rather than bringing respect for life to the public sphere, women campaign for more ways to terminate pregnancy. This week the Australian Senate approved the transferral of authority for the abortion drug RU486 to an unelected authority, the Theraputic Goods Administration (TGA). If the House of Representatives does not vote down this measure, ministerial accountability for the drug will no longer exist. The TGA has said they plan to approve the drug for importation if authority is passed to them.

Women politicians pushed for this law change. They were the driving force behind it. Australian women were polled about the drug. When told of its dangers in comparison to surgical abortion they did not want it imported.

Feminism promised to give us women who spoke for women, who representated women's interests. Instead, feminist politicans believe women must suppress their own biology in order to be liberated. To them, women must be able to eliminate their babies in order to live as men do. Women's central contribution throughout history, of bearing and raising children, is seen as a threat to their destiny.

Such a philosophy is not pro-woman. Feminist politicians who advocate it do not represent the interests of women, and they will never speak for me.