Today on Parliament Hill, Conservative MP Helena Guergis faced a barrage of criticism during Question Period over a letter-writing campaign initiated by one two of her constituency staff. You can read about the incident here. Among the niceties heaped on Guergis during QP were accusations of shaming all women by her callous behaviour. I don’t remember who these “questions” came from but they were from the general vicinity of the cheerful abortion bunch. You know, the “abortion-saves-lives” ladies?
Am I ashamed to be a woman because Helena Guergis has well-meaning-yet-misguided staff? Not really. Am I ashamed to be a woman because Helena Guergis had a hissy fit at an airport? Bah. No. There is more to being a woman than getting a grip on one’s temper. I mean, is a man with bad B.O. a dishonour to all men? Didn’t think so.
But if you want to speak about women doing disservice to all women, why don’t we look at more substantial issues. Like last week’s comments by Carolyn Bennett, And if you think that this attitude is isolated, what do you think of this one by Ontario MPP Cheri DiNovo:
… look at the vast majority of folk who take time off on leave to look after their children. The vast majority of them are women. In their most productive professional years they have to take a year off, or sometimes more-many women take more-when men are still working. And those productive lags are what hurt women.
Thank you for reiterating that motherhood is not real — productive — work. Maybe what hurts women more is not the productive lag but the people, like MPP diNovo, who keep reminding the world that mothers are only worth as much as their paycheque.
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