By Barbara E. McCain

For years we have heard the cry for equal rights for women in America.  Historically, it was a cry for voting rights, for legal representation, for protection under the law, for opportunities to develop educationally and occupationally.  These were just and good rallying calls.  These are just and good goals.  The champions of these causes were brave and principled individuals.  We have much to thank them for in our present life.  The freedoms and the privileges that we exercise as women in America are unequaled in our history.  We are indeed indebted to those who raised the banner for equal rights on behalf of the generations of American women that would be able to reap the rewards of the victories won.

The lack of equal rights is contrary to all that is good in our land and to the true embodiment of the ideals of this great country, the United States of America.  To stand for equality is to personify all that is noble as citizens of our land.  But let us be vigilant as we face the realities of some aspects of that which is called equal rights for women today.  Let us exercise the freedom of examining the issue and allow our intellect to form the proper questions.  As we look at the results of the movement, we begin to wonder where progress has really taken us.  As honest Americans we need to ask ourselves: is everything that is happening today equal?

What is the meaning of equal rights for women today?  Is it possible that the present definition of the term should be changed to "unequal rights?"  This may not be a popular question, but it is one that is worthy of note.  I do not ask this because I am against equal rights for women in America, quite the contrary. But I am appalled and insulted at the push for unequal rights that is happening everyday.  Someone of our gender and generation needs to stand up and say, "Stop!  Look at what is happening.  Return to the dignity of American womanhood and be real women again!"  It is not equality when a job position is granted to a woman, not because of her qualifications or resume, but to fill a quota or receive a rating advancement.  I would be personally insulted to know I was granted a position for that reason.  I should be appalled and grieved to learn that a man of higher qualifications, longer job experience and greater knowledge had been denied the job because to grant it to him would have made the company seem to be politically incorrect.  That is not the American way.  That is not the lesson of value and integrity that I want to pass on to my grandchildren.  That is not equal rights, but unequal rights.

It is not equal rights when a woman in a divorce situation knows that she will gain the greater leverage, not because she needs to be protected, not because she has been an innocent party, but solely because she is a woman.  How many men have seen their lives devastated because of the willfulness of a "modern woman" who has been unfaithful to the dignity of womanhood in her marriage.  Many of these men have to suffer the penalties of the divorce resulting in less time with their children and higher financial commitments, not because they are not the most qualified in character and integrity, but just because they are not a woman.  It is because the laws have been tipped on the scales of justice and now the judgments reflect unequal rights.  We should be alarmed as a nation.

It is no wonder that there has ceased to be the feeling of everyone working together in a company, of trust and admiration for a job well done, by male or female.  It is no wonder that distrust and competition are found in marriages all over the land.  As women, we have been taught that we have to tread down the competition whether it be in the workplace or at home.  What a tragedy.  There was a time when men in the work force admired a woman who worked hard and achieved success.  They would be the first to defend her.  Now they cast a wary eye, fearing for their own success.  There was a time when husbands and wives worked together, stood together, stayed together, because they had honor one for the other.  Neither one was "lord" over the other, but a cooperative team.  But now the team has gone into a scrimmage situation and constantly tries to gain the other’s territory.  This is not equality, this is inequality.

As women of America, we should be on the alert to the potential destruction of the true spirit of freedom and justice for all.  We should be able to stand tall and straight as the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor, holding high the flame of equal rights and not muddying our hands in the poisonous pool of unequal demands.  We should wake up to the fact that to demand more is not necessarily to gain more in dignity, respect and achievement.

It should be character, not chromosomes; dignity, not DNA, that determines advancements and accomplishments.  It is an insult to my own self image to think it could be possible that I might be granted a job position, not because of my preparation, not because of my accomplishments, not because of my potential or abilities, but because I am a female.  Equality demands that we each stand together, not resting on our laurels of gender, but working toward the common goal of liberty and freedom for all.

What has become of the days when American women were proud to stand beside their men in the pursuit of the great task of framing this nation, clearing the land, claiming the wilderness, researching ideas, raising the next generation?  Now, instead of standing beside each other, it is more likely in this age for men and women to stand against each other in the pursuit of their own individual visions of greatness.  That greatness is not necessarily one of the common patriotic pursuit but of self.  In former times, it seems that women desired to stand on an equal plane with men.  It was a plane of educational opportunity, voting rights, honor, dignity and justice.  The plane stretched through a vastness of rich symbolic prairie lands of growth, lush with vitality, where we all worked together.  But now we are being urged to climb up out of this plane onto the craggy peaks of success.  To reach the top we must step on the heads and hands of those that would have climbed with us.  It must be success at all costs.  Success, we are told, in the name of womanhood.  Once on the peak, we will often stand alone.  The vistas may seem heady and grand, but the reality of where our feet are placed is a dangerous one.  The rocks are slippery, the footholds tenuous, the atmosphere dangerous to our health.  What did we climb up to this lofty position for anyway?  After all, nothing grows on a mountain peak.  Has the push for unequal rights left us barren and cold as the winds that whip around the hard, rocky sharpness of that place.  Could we, as women of the year 2000, be willing to climb down from the superficial heights of unequal rights and get busy with the task at hand of living in equality on this plane called The United States of America?

We can be proud of our heritage and of our land.  Women in our country are not mandated to wear a veil over their faces or cover their ankles and arms with black cloth.  They do not have to walk ten paces behind their husbands nor cast downward, shamefaced glances when men enter a room.  We do not have to sit in separate sections of a classroom or abdicate all rights of inheritance because of our sex.  And it has never been so from the earliest time of our nation.  Of this we can be proud.  We can stand face to face with a man, let our hair blow in the wind and wear the current fashions of the day, without fear of being in violation of any law.  We can have the privilege of walking side by side, hand in hand, with our mate.  We can hold our head high with pride in being an American woman.  My granddaughters can be assured of being able to pursue whatever vocation they desire as long as ability, diligence and accomplishment reinforce their desires.  I want them to find the joy of being a woman, not the strife of being the woman in charge.  I want them to be able to develop a pride in their accomplishments, not demand or expect reward at the cost of injuring others.  I want them to be proud to be American women when they grow up.  And as they grow, it is my prayer that our country will grow richer from their achievements, not because they are women, but because they are individuals of great worth.