Though she's an ardent feminist, online publisher Amanda Uhle of Ann Arbor draws no joy from the fact that "for the first time in Michigan’s history, the two major-party candidates for governor are women," she writes at The Washington Post.
Amanda Uhle: "I'm disgusted that she's ... trying to win points for being a 'real woman.'" (Photo: Facebook)
Rather than a sign of progress, she sees Tudor Dixon's nomination as "the opposite of progress for women."
It doesn't matter to me that Dixon is a woman. She's an embarrassingly terrible candidate who is unequipped to lead. ...
I'm disgusted that she's both completely unprepared and trying to win points for being a "real woman" along the way.
Before becoming executive director and publisher of the humor site McSweeney's in 2018, Uhle was executive director of 826Michigan for 11 years. That nonprofit organizes free after-school writing programs for students, led by adult volunteers.
In her guest column, she cites the Republican challenger's status as a first-time candidate and her no-exceptions stance against abortion.
The attempt by Trump-endorsed Dixon to frame her candidacy as part of a women's empowerment narrative is astonishing.
"It's time to elect a real woman in Michigan," she tweeted in the hours after the primary results were announced Aug. 2. She calls herself a 'mother' and [Gov. Gretchen] Whitmer a 'birthing parent.' Openly opposed to LGBTQ rights, Dixon tries to blur these attitudes into a kind of feminism, but it's really bait for the culture war she wants to stoke. ...
Progress for women requires a world that supports them as they work through the system and that lifts them up as they demonstrate their competence and capabilities.
Whitmer, with her long and accomplished history of government service, embodies that. Dixon, by contrast, is not just the pinnacle of inexperience, she’s also being pushed to our state's center stage because of her gender. ... Trump's endorsement of her omitted any reference to governmental experience or other qualifications. ... Instead, he emphasized her child-rearing abilities, saying, 'She raised a beautiful family, and is ready to save Michigan.'
That's the opposite of progress for women.
