THAT’S the bottom line of Ann Romney’s speech in Connecticut yesterday, in which she addressed criticism by Democratic strategist Hilary Rosen, who complained that she had not worked for a living. As Politico reports:

“My hats off to the men in this room too that are raising kids — I love that, and I love the fact that there are also women out there that don’t have a choice and they must go to work and they still have to raise the kids,” she said. “Thank goodness that we value those people too. And sometimes life isn’t easy for any of us.”

Mrs. Romney also spoke at length of how much work it is to be a mother at home. But she did not say this was a superior choice:

“So we are grateful for the response that we got from [people who criticized Rosen], and appreciative of recognizing that women have choices in life and some choices are not all the same, but that we value everyone’s choice in making their profession.”

                                        — Comments —-

Jesse Powell writes:

 I tend to be quite encouraged by this whole “War on Women” business because it represents social conservatives taking the initiative. When was the last time social conservatives took the initiative on any issues? It seems like a long time. This current uproar about the Republican “War on Women” may be the most hoopla social conservatives have generated since around 1995 when out-of-wedlock births got a lot of attention and welfare dependency came under serious attack.

The attack on Ann Romney by Hilary Rosen and the subsequent counter-attack seems to fit with the overall theme of the Republican “War on Women”. Attacking stay at home mothers as “never having worked a day in their lives” is a typical feminist insult. The counter-attack is focused on valuing stay at home mothers as doing “real work” just like career women do. This whole controversy that has served the purpose of promoting and honoring the stay at home mother would not have come up at all except for the traditional family lifestyle of the Romney’s. This is why it has value for the culture for the First Lady to be a traditional mother even if her husband’s policies are not as socially conservative as we might like.

It is true that Ann Romney is not extolling the superiority of the stay at home mother as she has every right to do, but she is at least arguing for “stay at home mother equality” that represents an advancement compared to the presumed inferiority of the stay at home mother that has been the dominant cultural attitude of late. She is using feminist language against feminist goals.

The one thing that worries me is that the hysterical reaction by feminists against the “War on Women” might not so much represent the strength of rising social conservatism but might instead simply represent feminist’s shock that they are being challenged at all after such a long period of time of always getting their way with no questions asked.

Please follow and like us: