[Mb-civic] The sexism awards - Ellen Goodman - The Boston Globe

[William Swiggard]

The sexism awards

By Ellen Goodman  |  August 25, 2005

AND NOW let us pause to celebrate Aug. 26, tomorrow's anniversary of 
women's suffrage. It's been 85 years since Harry Burn, a young Tennessee 
legislator, followed the advice of his mom and cast the deciding vote 
ratifying the 19th Amendment.

We honor Harry, his mom, and generations of suffragists. We also 
remember the hostile foes who chased Harry onto the third floor ledge of 
the state capitol after his vote. Since 1920, we've not only had 
progress, we've had generations of adversaries trying to force women's 
rights out the window.

In this spirit, our one-woman committee met again this year to dispense 
prizes to those who labored mightily throughout the past year to set 
back the cause of women. Without further ado, we present the Equal Rites 
Awards:

We begin, as we must, by going overseas where so many compete so hard 
for the International Ayatollah Prize. This year it goes to the Islamic 
clerics in northwest India who ruled that a woman raped by her 
father-in-law not only had to leave her husband but had to marry his 
rapist father. To those profamily clerics we issue a fatwa: Don't just 
blame the victim, marry her.

While we are abroad, the Double Standard Bearer Prize goes to our 
allies, the Saudis, who still refuse to give women the keys to the 
kingdom. The latest petition opposing women drivers explained, ''Women 
are less decisive than men and less capable of dealing with difficult 
situations." To the oil-rich and common sense-deprived Saudis, we send 
Indy Racing League sensation Danica Patrick to chauffeur them to the 
21st century.

Speaking of Danica, it was Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone who 
sneered at her, saying: ''Women should be dressed in white like all 
other domestic appliances." To Bernie we award our Superstar in Sexism 
Prize and a two-week vacation in our favorite appliance: a deep freezer.

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2005/08/25/the_sexism_awards/
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