By MARSHA MERCER
A grumpy reader wrote to ask why African Americans rate a month of celebration every February.
My guess is the man won’t be any happier to learn that March is Women’s History Month -- and that the 2012 theme is “Women’s Education – Women’s Empowerment.”
Today, more women attend college in America than men. But after the American Revolution, the patriots thought women needed an education only because they’d be nurturing the bodies and minds of their sons, the nation’s citizens and future leaders, the National Women’s History Project reports.
Don’t tell Rick Santorum. That sounds like an idea he could love.
The former senator from Pennsylvania is running for the White House by attacking contemporary American culture. He has special loathing for public education, which has helped millions of women make history.
Santorum, whose seven children are homeschooled, dismisses public schools as factories and relics of the Industrial Revolution. Education is the family’s job, he says.
“Not only do I believe the federal government should get out of the education business, I think the state government should start to get out of the education business and put it back with the local and into the community,” Santorum said in a GOP presidential candidates’ debate in Arizona.
Santorum also charged that President Barack Obama is a snob for wanting to send everyone to college, where liberal professors would indoctrinate them, and Obama could “remake you in his image.” Really?
No, Obama wants to do no such thing. Obama said he wants everyone to have educational options after high school – not necessarily college. As for indoctrinating and remaking – that’s more Santorum’s goal than Obama’s.
From bedroom to battlefield, Santorum wants to turn back the clock. He said last year “it’s not OK” for married couples to use contraception. He frequently praises his wife for quitting her career to raise their kids.
In his 2005 book, “It Takes a Family,” a response to Hillary Clinton’s “It Takes a Village,” he argued that in most cases it’s neither necessary nor best for children if both parents work outside the home. He favors a ban on women in combat in the military and would reinstate “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy for gays in the military.
As Santorum’s views have become known, a gender gap has emerged, with Republican women voters favoring former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney over Santorum.
An Arizona poll found Romney with a 2 to 1 advantage over Santorum among women voters the week before the primary. Romney also led Santorum among men by 8 percentage points. Exit polls in Michigan Tuesday showed male voters almost evenly divided between the two candidates, but Romney had a 5-point lead over Santorum among female voters.
Santorum’s culture war is perfect if he wants to build that gender gap. About 60 percent of people believe higher education is a positive force in society. Fewer than one in four married-couple families with children under 15 had a stay-at-home mother in 2010.
Three in four American women have taken the pill. Americans support contraception, even Santorum’s fellow Catholics.
In his primary night speech in Michigan, Santorum tried something new. He thanked his mom and praised her education and career.
Mama Santorum, 93, not only went to college at a time when most women didn’t, but she also earned a graduate degree. She worked full time as a nurse while she and Rick’s dad, a psychologist with the Veterans Administration, raised their family.
“She balanced time, as my dad did, working different schedules, and she was a very unusual person at that time. She was a professional who actually made more money than her husband,” Santorum said.
Santorum’s shout-out to his mom and, indirectly, to working moms signaled he’d like to appeal to women voters.
Maybe someone told him women outvote men in presidential elections. Nearly 10 million more women than men voted in 2008. Male voters split 49 to 48 between Obama and John McCain respectively, but 56 percent of women voted for Obama.
Happy Women’s History Month.
(c)2012 Marsha Mercer. All rights reserved.
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