Being In Power Doesn’t Automatically Make Women Feminists

This year, a record number of Republican women were elected to Congress; 35 GOP women will serve next year. While feminists generally celebrate unprecedented gains made by women, this milestone underscores an important point often misunderstood about the women’s movement: women who gain political power do not automatically help the feminist movement. Just because a person in power is a woman does not mean the way they use their power will actually help other women.

Take these Republican women’s views on, and and votes regarding, abortion. Reducing or banning legal access to safe abortion puts the lives of many pregnant people at risk. Research shows that those who are denied a desired abortion are four times more likely to live below the federal poverty level than those who do receive an abortion. This group of pregnant people also experience a higher risk of eclampsia and death at the end of pregnancy, among other dangers, according to the same research.

Yet GOP women have used their power to oppose abortion rights for years. In 2017, for example, Iowa State Representative Ashley Hinson voted for a bill that reduced the amount of money the state government awards Iowa’s Planned Parenthood and prohibited the use of state-specific health insurance to cover the cost of an abortion, making abortion access more difficult for those without the means to pay privately.

Last year, Mississippi Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith — whose website boasts she received an ‘A’ rating from a pro-life group — presented the Support and Value Expectant (SAVE) Moms and Babies Act, which seeks to make medical abortions less accessible.

In addition to supporting attacks on women’s reproductive rights, many Republican women politicians support attacks on LGBTQI+ identifying women. For example, Senator Hyde-Smith also supports Senator Kelly Loeffler’s new bill, the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act, which could lead to ‘schools denying federal funding to schools that allow trans girls to participate in girls’ sports. Chase Strangio, deputy director for transgender justice for the ACLU's LGBT and HIV Project, said in September that this bill pushes “a narrative that trans girls in particular are a threat to the survival of women’s sports, which is predicated on the view that the government should and do have the authority to say who is a woman.”

Cynthia Lummis, the newly elected senator from Wyoming, supported the 2013 Marriage and Religious Freedom Act, which sought to protect the right to being anti-same-sex marriage as an exercise of religious belief, in her capacity as a congresswoman at the time. The same year, Lummis was also one of a number of House members who voted against the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, in direct objection to the bipartisan Senate bill’s attempt to increase protection of LGBT, Native American, and immigrant victims of abuse.

That Lummis voted against this bill based on its support for immigrant women aligns with the Republican party’s anti-immigrant policies and rhetoric — which have been linked to an increase in hate crimes –– and she’s hardly the only GOP woman to support policies that harm this group. Mary Miller, the new member-elect of the U.S. House from Illinois’ 15th District, states on her website that she opposes sanctuary cities, supports building a wall on the southern border, and supports the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency. What’s more, these elected officials have failed to respond to or act on reports that have detailed horrific treatment that women detained by ICE face, which range from instances of sexual abuse to more recent claims of unwanted hysterectomies.

Clearly, many female Republican candidates support policies that actively harm other women, in ways ranging from restricting their bodily autonomy to putting their safety at risk. Of course, liberal women in positions of power have been guilty of supporting policies that harm women, too. For example, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg supported the construction of a gas pipeline beneath the Appalachian Trail, despite reports that demonstrated a pattern of “increased violence against Native women in communities near fossil fuel infrastructure.” Vice President-elect Kamala Harris has also been criticized for her decision to prosecute parents for their children’s truancy.

Regardless of their position on the political spectrum, therefore, we must remember that when women gain political power, women’s rights are not automatically protected or expanded. Rather than rely on identity politics, we must vote for candidates who support the issues women care about and who vow to protect their rights, no matter how they identify.