If you needed any more confirmation that Democrats have set back feminism, Vice President Joe Biden is the gift that keeps on giving:
Or if you’re not in the mood to watch a video:
“How many of you are single women with children, in a dead-end job? You’re there because of your health insurance. You would rather have the opportunity to spend the next couple of years with your child until they get — if that was your choice — until they get into primary school. You’re now trapped in that job because if you leave, you lose your health insurance. Now you’ll be able to do — make an independent choice. Do you want to stay in that job and still have health insurance, or do you want to — I mean, do you want to stay in that job, even though you can get health insurance absent that job? And it gives women a great deal more freedom.”
Amazingly, in one soundbite the Vice President has managed to knock women down a few pegs and pat them on the head on two levels:
- Women don’t want to rely on themselves. They’d prefer The Man take care of them.
- Women want the freedom to stay at home — not the freedom to choose whether to work or stay at home.
“But wait! Biden said it’s a ‘choice!’ What are you on about?”
I’m sure that choice sounds nice to some people. Who doesn’t like freedom? But underlying Biden’s comments is the toxic concept that most of liberalism simmers down into: the “freedom” to wholly rely on the government instead of oneself. What says “freedom” more than being enslaved by welfare rather than using it as a temporary safety net?
Apparently what women — single or otherwise – really want is someone to take care of them.
From my own previous experiences, I can assure you it’s not easy being a single mother. That is undeniable. But the assumption that single women are keeping a less-than-ideal job simply for health insurance while they wistfully dream of being stay-at-home mothers is a slap in the face to what feminism worked so hard to build. Being a stay-at-home mother is one of the toughest jobs there is, but implying that what women really want to do is be at home full-time is so retro it conjures images of jukeboxes and poodle skirts.
Lest you think this criticism is anger for its own sake, recall this bizarre question Biden asked a group of women while touring the DeNA company in Japan:
So, Mr. Vice President — the crusader in the War on Women — what’s your problem with women in the workplace?