Van Duyne: Liberals Dont Have a Monopoly on Feminism

Those who preach victimology have hijacked the Feminist Movement By Mayor Beth Van Duyne Texas Insider Report: AUSTIN Texas To the women I see marching in D.C. I am a woman. I am strong. I am not a victim. I am not afraid. Just thought you should know." I posted this message after seeing a woman on her way to the Womens March wearing a sign across her chest that read Im afraid." My 17-year-old daughter and I were in Washington D.C. for the inauguration and those words stopped me in my tracks.

• When did feminism become about fear instead of strength?
• What message did this person hope to convey?
• What significance would this phrase have on millions of young women including my daughter?

I felt compelled to respond and so I did. The response from the supposedly tolerant supposedly progressive left was ruthless attacking my race looks and religion. Some even implied I should be sexually assaulted. I have fought my entire life through word and deed to advance women. As far back as I can remember Ive been a fierce advocate for womens rights equality and empowerment.

• How then did I become a nemesis of the current womens movement"?
• Have our political affiliations become so defining that they now override our ability to compromise or even to communicate?
• Has the womens movement" narrowed to the extent that women who arent reflexively liberal are automatically disqualified?

Ive volunteered at rape crisis centers chaired womens health organizations been on the board of domestic violence shelters supported young women to run for public office and championed the creation of a women-focused innovation center in my city. Yet the progressive women who harangued me from the safe space of their keyboards discount these endeavors outright seemingly because I am conservative pro-life and have the audacity to voice an opposing opinion.

Despite the fact that women are more independent now than weve ever been it is all too apparent that those who want to preach victimology have hijacked the feminist movement. The new feminists" are telling us we need to be afraid that we need to look to the government for more because we cant succeed on our own that we are weaker and need more protections. The message the new feminists are sending is that they dont want us to be independent empowered and self-sufficient.

What we need is less hand-wringing and grievance-mongering and more empowerment that encourages younger women to be proud of who they are and what they achieve. Maybe instead of taking to Twitter and Facebook to show our bitter disdain for those who disagree with us or encouraging violence in response to speech we dont like we grow up. Heres what I believe:

Women are strong we are capable and while some of us may need more support than others depending on circumstances we have it within ourselves to be fierce proponents and champions of one another and not be victims.

Women have come a long way. There are now more females graduating from college medical school and law school than males. Today more women are entering the workforce than men. Barriers to entry have greatly diminished but women still exit the workforce before advancing to executive levels. Consider these statistics. Women in our country hold only:

19 of S&P 500 board seats 4.6 of Fortune 500 CEO spots 20 partner status in law firms 16 deanship in medical schools 15 mayorship of the 100 largest U.S. cities

Why do these disparities exist? Lack of quality child care elderly care for sick parents and flexibility to manage competing demands have certainly contributed to a less-than-compatible work environment for women everywhere. Access to affordable career training safe yet sustainable housing and a supportive ecosystem could make a tremendous difference. Women still have to deal with chauvinism and bigotry from both their supervisors and subordinates for just the latest high-profile example check out engineer Susan Fowlers recounting of her Kafkaesque experiences with harassment and HR at Uber. And dont even get me started on the double standards (i.e. what passes for passion" in men is seen as overly emotional" in women). Why are we as a gender not focusing on helping to mentor women to earn better jobs more training and easier access to child care and quality education? These are issues most of us can support and advocate for. Why is the womens movement" so concentrated on the narrow divisive issue of abortion to the exclusion of so many other issues where we can find common ground? Women are over half the population in America. We come from different backgrounds socioeconomic levels religions cultures experiences you name it. As diverse as we are so are our political interests. If pro-abortionists want to have a march fine but dont do so in the name of an entire sex. You dont get to speak for all of us. Women have never been as powerful influential and formidable as we are right now. Lets stop with the name calling the body shaming and the angry empty protests. Instead lets agree to disagree on certain issues while working together to advance issues that actually matter to womens quality of life across this nation. Beth Van Duyne is the mayor of Irving Texas.