by Lil Tuttle
Cliches wear on us after a while. Cute at first, these ready-made over-used phrases eventually lose their meaning and power. We begin to see them for what they are: thought-terminating, conversation-stopping roadblocks to all meaningful communication. The war on women cliché is a prime contemporary example.
Crafted to depict male-directed patriarchal oppression of women, war on women still has legitimacy for women in third-world and Middle Eastern nations where the fairer sex is genuinely and systematically treated as second-class citizens by—or as property of—men.
In 21st century America, however, the war on women cliché is utterly silly. American women are on par or surpassing men in virtually every social and economic arena, from education and career advancement to political leadership.
It’s time to celebrate the fact that women are victors, not victims! The landscape around us is littered with the shards of the countless shattered social and economic glass ceilings that American women once faced.
Are there new challenges for women to address? Of course! Life is never static. There are always new challenges to overcome … and new opportunities to be victorious. (A woman’s work is never done, right? Now that’s a clich√© that still has legitimacy to most women!)
We invite you to take a look through this little booklet and think about some of the challenges American women can address next. Hint: the challenges aren’t coming from men.
The next time you hear there’s a war on women, tell the conversation-stopping offender: Really? If so, women are winning it. Then email the offender this little booklet.
Click on image to open booklet:
Note: A copy of the booklet is free to high school and college students. For all other orders, we ask for a small donation to cover costs of printing and shipping.
