It was not surprising to learn today in a Wall Street Journal article, entitled "The Political Gender Gap," by Arthur C. Brooks, that Democrat women feel they are not as free as Republican women. According to the 2000 General Social Survey, conducted by the University of Chicago’s highly regarded National Opinion Research Center, Republican women are 7% more likely to say they feel free. My personal observations led me to this same conclusion quite a while ago.
Of course, Democrats will respond that all women are oppressed compared to men. Not so. It turns out that women in general, both Republican and Democrat, feel freer than men. The study indicates that a man is 10 points less likely to say he feels free than a women under the same circumstances.
It also turns out that married women feel much freer than single women by ten points. Finally, Democrat men are two-thirds likelier than Republican women to say they do not have a great deal of freedom.
What is one to make of all this? Will, the study forms no opinions as to why these findings seem to be so contrary to the feminist mantra of oppression we have been subjected to for years. Maybe Republican women didn’t get the Gloria Steinem memo.
It leaves one to ruminate as to the meaning of life (wasn’t that a movie?). One thing is certain, married or single, Republican women are happier and feel freer than their counterparts in the Democrat Party. Men, take note.
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