We have come a long way from the play things of mens’ desires (Medieval Times- circa 1400’s). In the past 600 years, women have earned the right to own property (1848), to earn gainful employment (1964), to vote (1920), and to have control of their own name (1970s), rather than property of their fathers followed by their husbands. In 2021, we even have a woman as our Vice President of the United States of America. Though women have broken that ceiling internationally already (1980). They get it.
My own grandmother, a trailblazer in her own right, was one of the first women to earn a college degree at the Georgia State College for Women (Milledgeville) in ~1927 or 28. After meeting my grandfather during the war working in the shipyard, she was a school teacher. She taught my mother and my uncle the value in education and hard work. My mother in turn taught me my brother. Education is an opportunity all should have. But that is a discussion for another day.
Today I speak to you, the Senators of South Carolina. To those that on the 28th day of January in the year 2021, walked into a room. A room where, you who have been elected by those that asked you to represent them. People not unlike myself. Where you decided that you have the right to control women. To control our decisions. To control our bodies. You who do not walk in our shoes. You who do not have the same choices and opportunities.
The ‘heart beat bill’ affects every man and woman in South Carolina and beyond. And I would tell you senator that you do not represent me. You do not represent your mothers, your sisters, your daughters or your friends. You cannot.
Dear members of the SC House of Representatives- you have a unique opportunity here to make leaps and bounds toward gender equality. To end the ownership of women.
When you walk into that room, you must decide. Will you do the right thing, the courageous thing, the honorable thing? Or will you take the allegiance route and secure your seat, if only for a few years? Will you represent ALL of your people? Or will you perpetuate the privilege of those you align with?
We have come a long way, but we have not come far enough. As Ruth Bader Ginsburg said best, “Women belong in all places that decisions are being made.”
*these views are solely my own. I do not represent all women and if you choose to disagree, that is your choice. I get it, change is hard and the fear is real.
MumGene 