News from the War on Women

Melinda Gates, wealthy philanthropist, is in London helping to host a summit on family planning in the developing world. And she spoke out against critics:

Gates, who is a practising Catholic, has been targeted by religious groups, which have described her mission as a "blatant attack on morality" and an elitist effort at population control.

In response Gates said the lack of family planning available to 210 million women was "a crime". She added: "We made birth control and contraceptives way too political in the US. I think if people understood that 200 million women want this around the world they would start to say, 'OK that makes sense.'"

. . . Anti-abortion campaigners in the US have seized on comments by a Harvard professor, Lant Pritchett, who attacked Gates for counting women who have not expressed a desire for contraception as needing it.
However, the experience of people on the ground is that, once women are offered education about contraception, it is welcomed. "There is a lot of ignorance," said Faustina Fynn-Nyame, country director of Marie Stopes International in Ghana. "Women think, for example, that an implant or coil will stab them. Once they see other women are fine, then they want to control their families. It empowers them to choose."

I'm happy to report something positive from the Republican front: George W. and Laura Bush were in Africa this week to promote the health of women and children, according to a nice photo-essay in The New York Daily News:

George W. Bush and Laura Bush wrapped up a week-long trip to Africa Friday, where they visited Zambia and Botswana promoting an initiative to fight cervical cancer and breast cancer in the countries.
As part of the charity initiative the Bushes helped open medical centers providing cancer screenings, visited sick children at an orphanage, and met with Peace Corps members, according to the George W. Bush Presidential Center.

But don't think that all conservatives would suddenly like to help women. Nope! They just don't seem to have anything good to say about half the human race. But like all bullies they also keep saying they are "just joking."

Rush Limbaugh on July 3rd

“When women got the right to vote is when it all went down hill,” Limbaugh said on his radio show Tuesday, “Because that’s when votes started being cast with emotion and maternal instincts that government ought to reflect.” The host tried almost immediately to recover from his blatant sexism, claiming that he had been joking.

Pat Buchanan on the McLaughlin Group:

When asked when America would be likely to elect its first female president Buchanan quipped, ”Let’s hope” it’s not before “2040 or 2050.”

Mclaughlin then asked, “That late?” to which Pat Buchanan responded “Let’s hope so.”
Newsweek’s Eleanor Clift quickly shot back, “How about 2016, Hillary Clinton?”
At which point McLaughlin asked, “Hillary has a duty to her gender to run for president?”
Clift didn’t go so far as to call it a duty but noted, “She doesn’t have a duty. but a lot of women, and some men, were disappointed that [she didn't win].”

Buchanan was quick to point out:
“But there’s no Republican vice president even now. They’re not even considering any woman for vice president on the Republican ticket.”