Welcome to “From the Margins,” a new column devoted to a wide variety of social justice issues. For our first column, we chose to go with the hottest topic right now: Sarah Palin.

Sarah Palin is the governor of Alaska and the Republican vice-presidential nominee. Let’s be clear: as feminists it is of course good to see a woman once again in the running for vice president, the first woman to do this being Geraldine Ferraro in 1984. However, simply having a woman in the White House does NOT mean a better world for women. It does not mean that women’s rights will be protected, that the scope of women’s choices will increase or that the glass ceiling will truly be shattered for all.

In considering whether or not Palin is pro-woman, consider this quote from Gloria Steinman: “Feminism has never been about getting a job for one woman. It’s about making life more fair for women everywhere.” In other words, Palin isn’t worried about pulling the rest of us up on her trek to the White House.
Feminism has paved the way for women in many areas, from the right to vote to the right to work outside of the home. However, just because one benefits from the gains won by feminists does NOT mean one is a feminist, or even pro-woman, for that matter. Consider, if you will, some of Palin’s political actions and initiatives – the issue of rape kits, for instance. These kits are essential to successful investigations and trials of sexual assault cases, and are generally free to the people who require them. Palin, however, supported legislation that required people to pay for their justice out of pocket – up to $1,200 out of pocket to be exact, according to the Huffington Post. Gee, thanks Sarah, for making victims pay directly for their basic right to justice.

Sarah Palin is also staunchly against women having the right to their own body. Even in cases of rape, Palin holds fast on her pro-life stance, taking away a woman’s right to deem what is just for her, her life and her body.

She is also, and illogically, against comprehensive sex education. Palin obstructs a woman’s ability to understand her body through blocking critical information about STI’s and preventing pregnancy. If Palin were truly interested in lowering the number of abortions in the United States, she should first allow the people to be educated on the topic so that fewer women find themselves with an unwanted pregnancy and abortion as the only option. Palin has cut funding for teen pregnancy shelters by 20 percent with a line item veto, according to the Washington Post. So while she can stand up there toting how she “can do it all,” she’s made it pretty darn difficult for the rest of us to do it, too.

What’s also disturbing is that the media’s idea of covering women’s issues is not centered on Palin’s public policy but her family affairs.  That could be because women’s issues are apparently a non-issue for Palin and the campaign she is a part of. Why would the McCain campaign bring a woman onto the campaign, but NOT talk about women’s issues? Hmmm, could it be we are being played, my friends? It seems plausible to us that one morning over coffee McCain and a few of his campaign buddies said, “Hey, there’s a woman in Alaska who has the exact same policies as Bush, uh, I mean you, Mr. McCain,” and voila, Sarah Palin. The lack of information regarding women’s issues is so deep that the McCain/Palin website refers to women through Pro-Life and children’s issues alone; they could’ve added on domestic abuse, but Palin just couldn’t choose which way to go on that issue.

What we need to do, men, women and everyone in between, is not get caught up in the political nonsense that is the McCain campaign’s treatment of, or better yet ignoring of, women’s issues. We need to celebrate having a woman VP candidate, but then we need to move on to the issues she stands for. And the issue here is that Palin is not a maverick, not a forward thinker and certainly not a feminist. Although the media is steadily touting the fact that Palin being a feisty hockey mom means Palin is a feminist, the students who receive medically inaccurate/abstinence-only sex education, the women who are in NEED of a choice and the teen mothers who need a bed to sleep in are proof that if Sarah Palin is a feminist … she’s a feminist for McCain and his ol’ boys alone.