Back to 2012

             In this issue of “Feminist Currents” Eileen Boris and Elizabeth Currans examine the issues women faced during the 2012 elections. Women became women firsts, senator from their state or representative from their ethnic group. Republicans fought a “war on women” with Indiana candidate Richard Mourdock’s claim that "God intended" pregnancies from rape, and Paul Ryan’s pro-life position regardless of the form of contraception. A record number of women were elected to congress. One of the pressing concerns of the 2012 election cycle is the state of our national and local economies, a downturn that might impact women’s, gender, and sexuality studies well into the future.
            This article brings up some very important events. Although it is unfortunate how women’s rights were brought up during the elections, it proved that there is a problem with how women are treated and brought women’s rights up for discussion. However, women did reach a record number in congress, which shows that progress is being made even though there are outspoken people trying to stop it. Boris and Currans mention that due to the struggling economy, proposals were made to charge fees by majors in order to encourage supposedly practical preparation for the workforce. These proposals could severely effect the number of students to major in women’s, gender, and sexuality studies, which would be a major setback for women. Overall, women’s rights seem to be struggling to improve, but since the 2012 elections progress has been made.


The original article: http://library.calstate.edu/northridge/articles/record?id=FETCH-LOGICAL-p1224-3195d461ffb0c6aa59d5ea518bde497212522cbd7e3ded886fd2045fbddceda01