Women’s Rights (and Kavanaugh Hearing)

Christine Blasey Ford had to reveal herself and now the U.S. Senators, who were prepared to vote on Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, are all of a sudden rethinking their decision.  According to reports, Senators received an anonymous letter months ago detailing sexual assault allegations from Ford, but because her name was not revealed her allegations didn’t go far. 

We are in the #MeToo movement where anonymity is no more.  A woman is not believed unless her story can be polygraphed and verified, which hers was.  But what does this scenario say about the government’s ability to allow a man accused of sexual assault to get confirmed for a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court and possibly vote to overturn Roe v. Wade?

As a woman this is simply disturbing.  What’s most disturbing is learning that members of the committee were in acknowledgement about the allegations and prepared to vote on his confirmation and only after her identity was revealed, heads are rolling. 

A quick trip down memory lane will remind you that Kavanaugh is the same judge who attempted to block an immigrant woman from obtaining an abortion.  Even though it was HER body and HER right to choose, he tried to infringe upon her right by pushing his decision further and further out in an attempt to make it harder for her to terminate her pregnancy. Ultimately, she was able to move forward despite his acts.

But what does this one case state about his ability to rule justly on behalf of women?  Currently, the U.S. Supreme Court is made up of five men and three women, with one vacancy looming. If Kavanaugh is confirmed the court will have six men and three women.  The court will make decisions about issues that affect women without enough voices by women to weigh in on the decision.  Such is with lawmaking.  Women are left out of many narratives simply because they aren’t present in the room.  In states where women make up more than half of the population men overwhelmingly represent the state in legislatures and on Capitol Hill.

For Kavanaugh, delaying and/or stopping his nomination would be a victory for anyone who cares about women’s reproductive rights. But what does it say about our Senate Judiciary leaders who had this information and did not act on it? What will this narrative mean for the next woman who wants to ‘accuse’ a powerful man of sexual assault? 

Women have to think about their careers, families, and even their safety above their healing and ability to move on from traumatic life events. After all, this is how women are socialized to deal with sexual assault – it’s her fault and she should feel guilty for coming forward to ‘out’ a man.

When our country takes women’s sexual allegations as serious as supposed public outcry about patriotism and NFL players kneeling, then maybe our country can get to the gender parity we deserve.  Until then, we will never know why members of the Senate Judiciary Committee decided to move forward on a critical vote ahead of Ford revealing her identity. But what we do know is victims have to relive trauma in public, and no one is legislating that.