A few days ago, the United States saw a half-contested debate. But the apparent cleavage in the political landscape may be a facade of greater social division. Conservative Americans have been pressuring family members to vote for the Republicans. Many couples have pushed their wives in a certain political direction, without giving them the chance to choose who they think will represent them well.
"I can not stop thinking about this woman I met while I was at the doorstep (in the framework of the campaign) in a neighborhood in the city," she told activist Annabel Park. "She lives in a low-income housing complex, and after knocking several times, the housewife answered while her husband was standing behind her. "When she talked about Democratic Senator Pete O'Rourke, her husband shouted," We're not interested. " The lady looked at me and said in a low voice, "I support Beto. Before I could answer, the door was closed quickly."
Later, Park asked, "I've always been in my mind. Have you been beaten? That was the cause of my fear. " There is a widespread and unrecognized form of voter intimidation. They are the husbands who control and control their wives, as evidenced by dozens of city travelers seeking votes from house to house throughout the country.
Earn votes
It seems that the campaigners have seen various forms of intimidation, intimidation and silencing, both in connection with these elections and in previous elections. In some cases, they asked their husbands wives about the candidates to vote for. The husbands often answered the door and refused to allow the wife to speak to the candidates or their representatives, or spoke or shouted at them, or insisted that she vote for the Republicans, even though the wife was a registered democracy.
In other cases, a man insists that there are no democrats in his family. "I asked a woman who answered on the door whether she had a plan to vote, and a man appeared behind her and said, 'I am a Republican.' Before I could answer, he closed the door in my face. "
"A woman in Michigan told me she was not allowed to vote for a particular candidate," another said. Experts say the tests were common in various US states. While there are no stories of a reverse phenomenon - wives controlling their husbands or husbands paying their wives to vote for a democratic candidate - family violence is certainly happening across the political spectrum, but "bullying" often appears to be either forcing the wife to tilt to the right or Do not participate from the ground.
"I was spotted by a housewife and rushed to my objection before I fixed the door," one of the hikers said in a search for California voters. "Before I said a word, the wife raised her hands in my face and said, 'Thank you, please go without making a sound.'" She was one of those who seemed afraid of their husbands.
A red house
The ways of doors during the election campaign is already an extraordinary experience. Researchers looking for support for their candidates discover the real faces of voters, watch divisions, especially in slums, and encounter people who are rude, indifferent or confused about elections. Worse still, they meet women, and they have the fear of the man of the house.
Melody, who knocked several doors in the last campaign to seek support for the Democratic candidate, says she came across a man from Nevada who paid no attention to her. "This is a red house. "I told him I came to talk to Donna," he replied. "She does not want to talk to you."
Because Donna supports the Democratic candidate, she may have voted the way she wants without telling her husband. But what if her husband saw her at the voting booth? Or voted on the kitchen table? Will it supervise its voting? Are you afraid to vote according to her wishes?
No one knows to what extent this hegemony may prevent women from voting according to their own beliefs and agendas, or prevent them from participating at all. Of course there are plenty of right-wing women who passionately vote for their conservative candidate, but when you look at the huge gender gaps between Democrats and Republicans or hear countless stories, you realize that there are many Democratic women married to Republicans, many of them They intend to control the political expression of their wives.
The problem concerns voting rights, whether it affects the results or not, and is a reminder that many women do not have freedom and do not enjoy equality in their family life. Another party activist reported that one of the husbands, this time in Torlock, California, told her: "If he (his wife) needs to know how to vote, I'll stand behind her and hit her on the back." It is a teaser that may be a reality for that woman.
This ugly scenario raises another question, whether voting by mail removes the privacy of the voting booths and the ability to act on what the voter thinks without consequences. This is also a reminder of the reason why women's long quest for voting in the United States and elsewhere has made a big gain. Women insisted that voting should make them equal, independent in public life, with the right to act on their own wishes and interests.
Full obedience
"The United States, and no state in it, can not deprive citizens of the United States of the right to vote or to derogate from this right because of sex," a clear text in the US Constitution. However, the women's right to vote movement collided with laws that defined the status of women as essentially the property of their husbands with the right to control their body, work, profits and assets. This right was in conflict with the customs that considered women's sphere to be family life, and that their role was to respect and obey the man of the house. Despite the most recent laws that ended in the 1990s; when the US State recognized marital rape as a crime, this clash is not over yet.
Last week, Mark Harris, who demanded wives full obedience to their husbands in the Ninth Circuit of Congress, North Carolina, won. Republicans in Ohio have made more attempts to remove women's right to control their fertility. The conservative agenda, of course, is what inequality can call marital life.
The right to vote according to your conscience and your desire is no different from equal rights in the workplace. US laws say everyone is equal, but reality says the opposite. As with countless republican measures to prevent citizens from voting on a large scale, including verification of restrictions, voter identification laws, and limits on polling stations and polling hours. This internal tyranny is an attempt to limit who decides what the United States should be.
277 women
In the midterm elections, 277 women ran for the US House of Representatives and the Senate from both major parties, belonging to different ages, races, religions, backgrounds and cultures, which UN Women described as "historic victory" and a cause for celebration. The total number of seats in the 100th Congress has exceeded this time, a record for women. Among the teams are the first three indigenous women and the first Muslim women from the states of Michigan and Minnesota. With more women in decision-making positions, we will see more comprehensive decisions, and we will have different solutions to protracted problems.
Drafting legislation
Janet Rankin was the first woman to be elected to Congress. "I may be the first woman in Congress, but I will not be the last," said Rankin, who represented the state of Montana after winning in 1916. In 1933, Francis Perkins became the first female secretary of state under President Franklin Roosevelt and the first woman to serve in the government. It was a key player in the drafting of the new agreement, a package of economic programs to counter the so-called Great Depression, including the introduction of minimum wage laws.
In 1973, Margaret Chase Smith, a member of the Republican Party of Maine, was known for her "Declaration of Conscience" against attacks on American figures from Senator Joe McCarthy. Nearly 10 years later, Geraldine Ferraro was the first female vice president. "If we can do that, we can do anything," she said at the 1984 Democratic National Convention in San Francisco.
Condoleezza Rice was the first black woman to serve as national security adviser in 2001 under President George W. Bush and the first black woman to serve as Secretary of State between 2005 and 2009.
Doors through doors
Campaign
An extraordinary experience,
Researchers are looking for support
Their candidates discover
Real faces
For voters, they monitor
Divisions, especially
In the slums,
And they encounter people
Rude or indifferent
Or confused about
The election.
- No one knows how far they may be prevented
These women dominate the vote according to
To their own beliefs and agendas, or to prevent them from
Participation at all.