It's time for male leaders to not only ask for binders of qualified women, but to re-write the definition of 'qualified.' The best man for the job, may in fact, be a woman, whose biography is not traditional, but is rich with experiences and skills that are not necessarily learned either in school or on the job.
Legislative proposals that would enable an employer to determine whether or not a woman's insurance would cover the cost of birth control strikes women as particularly bizarre. Is the boss going to take care of the children that are conceived accidentally? Stop treating us like children. Women are grown ups.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote highlights the absurdity of allowing employers control over women's reproductive health decisions.
Madeleine M. Kunin expresses concern over legislative proposals that would enable employers to dictate whether women's insurance covers birth control. She emphasizes the absurdity of this situation by questioning why employers should have such authority, suggesting that it infantilizes women and disregards their autonomy and responsibility as adults. The quote calls for recognizing women as capable individuals who should make their own health decisions without external imposition.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a women's rights advocacy speech to highlight the importance of bodily autonomy.
More from Madeleine M. Kunin
All quotes →It's time for women to wake up, to use the power of the vote, to honor the suffragists who chained themselves to the White House fence so that women could vote.
When women and men can shed an equal quantity of tears in public, that's when we'll have equal power.
Any smart executive understands that to find the best talent she has to explore new territory that lies beyond familiar geography. That applies not only to gender, but also to race, religion, background and age.
What works for a man, still does not work for a woman - both in terms of how they see themselves and how we see them.
What some men don't understand is that by opposing policies to reduce violence, promote equal pay and universal healthcare and voting to limit access to contraception and legal abortion, they are relegating women to another century, a time when men ruled exclusively and women were considered property and had to be guided by a firm masculine hand.
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