Jacques: Biden's 'women agenda' falls flat
If you read through Joe Biden’s recently-released “women agenda” it’s almost as if he hasn’t taken a close look at his own vice presidential contenders.
“Joe Biden is going to build our country back better after this economic crisis and that includes ensuring we get closer to full inclusion of and equality for women,” the piece on Medium stated. “Women — particularly women of color — have never had a fair shot to get ahead in this country.”
That’s kind of a head scratcher. While some inequities still exist, especially for women who balance children and career, the tremendous progress women have made is undeniable. Just look at how the Democratic presidential contender promised in March that he would choose a woman as his running mate and pretty easily came up with a list of successful women, many of them women of color who have managed to excel in their careers.
Among the dozen or so women who’ve landed on the list are governors, U.S. senators, congresswomen, a former national security adviser and a mayor. Although I disagree politically with these women, I still find their credentials impressive.
That includes Michigan’s Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who has actively campaigned for the VP role, despite trying to downplay her interest.
More:Jacques: Ex-Buttigieg PR aide guides Whitmer's spotlight
Biden’s decision is likely to come next week, ahead of the Democratic National Convention. He's gotten a lot of pressure from his party to select not only a woman, but a Black woman.
If Biden believes a woman is the smartest pick for a running mate, that’s fine. But making the choice a form of tokenism undercuts the honor.
Yet tokenism and identity politics are central to the former vice president’s plan for “improving” women’s lives. For instance, he highlights how in addition to selecting a woman for VP, he’s committed to selecting “an African American woman to be his first nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court.”
In paying lip service to wanting to improve economic and educational outcomes for women, Biden revisits tired ideas surrounding equal pay and the “need” for an Equal Rights Amendment. This ignores that women already have equal rights under the U.S. Constitution, and forcing these issues could have negative impacts on women, from lost flexibility at work to facing the draft.
Biden also throws in the freebies liberals love like free college tuition (at least this comes with family income limits), as well as eliminating most federal student debt, which Biden says unfairly impacts women.
Most alarmingly, in the name of making campuses safe for women, Biden aims to return to policies he helped put in place during the Obama administration that would undermine due process in campus sexual assault investigations. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has issued a formal rule that creates a much more fair process for all students under Title IX. Biden swears he’ll “immediately put an end to this.”
As Patrice Onwuka, senior policy analyst at the Independent Women’s Forum, observed: “Too bad for Biden that American women are already empowered enough to recognize that his plan is insulting: It relegates women to victim status suggesting we have no agency over our lives and careers and no personal responsibility for our outcomes.”
Treating women as victims and claiming they can’t get ahead in this country helps no one. And all Biden has to do is read the resumes of his VP finalists to realize it’s also not true.
Twitter: @Ingrid_Jacques