Sally Quinn, Sarah Palin, the Mommy Wars, and the Hypocrisy of Some Feminists

The mommy wars took an interesting spin during this year's Presidential election. As most everyone knows, Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin is a working mother of five children. On the surface, she seemed to have it all: motherhood and a successful political career. She earned more than her husband, who worked a flexible work schedule, and who took long-term paternity leave after the birth of their fifth child, Trig, who was born with Downs Syndrome. Sarah Palin had the seemingly perfect set up for any woman trying to combine work and family. I am not here to argue Democratic or Republican, but I will admit I really disagree with a lot of her positions. Regardless of your opinion about her politics, or how qualified she is or isn't to be Vice-President. I think about the hypocrisy in much of this debate. Palin made her choices, and it would seem that most feminists would support her achieving a prominent career while raising children. But, no the Mommy Wars must strike again. However, the attacks against the choice to have a family and a career escalated when it came out that her 17 year old daughter was pregnant. Never mind that plenty of teenage girls with stay at home moms get pregnant, people quickly attributed her daughter's pregnancy to neglect by her mother working full-time. There has been a lot of buzz questioning if Sarah Palin can be a mother and a politician. Much of this has been posted on blogs by folks that are usually feminist in their views about motherhood. However, it has also spilled over into the mainstream media. Sally Quinn appeared on air stating that Sarah Palin had too much to handle to be a Vice President and to take care of young children. Across the ocean, Liz Hunt, a writer for London's Daily Telegraph, also questioned how good a mother Palin could be if she was also Vice President. No one would have questioned the ability of Joe Biden, Barack Obama or John McCain to lead the country if one of their daughters was pregnant at 17, or if one of their children had Down's Syndrome. The double standard of gender role ideology is alive and well. Love her or hate her, if you support women's right to make their own decisions about work and family, you cannot attack her for doing what everyone has been telling us women what we can and should do. I'm just disappointed that those who claim to want to knock down barriers for women for all these years jumped on the bandwagon to help perpetuate it all over again in criticizing Sarah Palin for trying to balance motherhood and work.