On Sarah Palin and Feminism

Many women will be on the edge of their seats tomorrow watching Sarah Palin participate in her first and only vice presidential debate of the election season. Some will tune in to root for the first woman on the Republican Party presidential ticket. Others (like me) will tune in because they are wondering if Palin will continue her erratic performance on the campaign trail and whether her intellectual deficits will set women's rights back 30 years.

No doubt about it, whether for or against the Republican ticket women everywhere are fascinated by the moose-hunter from Alaska with an unwed teen daughter, special-needs child and dog-sled driving husband. Whatever criticisms women may have about Palin's ideology (she doesn't believe in a woman's right to choose), no one can question that she represents a non-traditional role-model. Role-model?!? Yes, role model. Think about it: Palin got into politics after becoming active in her community. She was elected Mayor and then governor of her state on her own record and not through a politician husband (like Hillary Clinton).

That being said, what are we to make of Palin's ideology? It doesn't fit the traditional feminist profile of pro-choice, equal pay for equal work, etc. Does Palin's conservative perspective on these issues mean that she isn't a feminist? If this working mother of five can't legitimately claim the feminist label, then what is she? Perhaps she is an independent woman who believes that she doesn't have to be placed into an ideological box in order to express her womanhood. If this is the case, then Palin is expressing a post-feminist understanding of womanhood in which women are free to be, think, and believe what they want--even if it undercuts traditional feminist values considered important for the advancement of all women.