By now, most Americans have heard about the so-called Republican war on women, which has been framed as a battle waged by stodgy old white guys who want to deny women reproductive freedom. One can debate the validity of these claims, but for now, let’s give equal time to the other war on women. This one is manned not by men but by a dwindling number of women whose understanding of equality is so narrowly defined that only a certain kind of woman can be recognized as having achieved anything.
Twenty-two such women recently wrote a letter to the Sewall-Belmont House and Museum protesting an award to be given to former first lady Laura Bush. The Alice Award, which honors a woman who has helped other women, previously has gone to Hillary Clinton, Katie Couric, Nancy Pelosi and Olympia Snowe.
Leading the 22 women is Sonia Pressman Fuentes, co-founder of the National Organization for Women, who described her reaction upon reading that Bush was being honored: “I couldn’t believe my eyes. It’s not partisan. I’m not complaining that she’s a Republican.” (Because Snowe, after all, is a Republican.) “I’m complaining that she’s never done anything for women to get this award.”
To say Bush has never done anything for women suggests either willful ignorance or malicious revisionism. The soft-spoken former first lady may not have marched down Pennsylvania Avenue with her sisters to celebrate or protest. But when you live at 1600, you don’t have to. Being a first lady grants certain privileges, one of which is a bully pulpit. Bush used hers to great effect, not just by advancing women’s rights in far corners of the world but also by literally saving lives. To assert anything less is disingenuous if not dishonest. It is also an insult to a woman of whom all Americans should be proud.