Mrs. Boorman Wells Quotes
Do you think it would be possible for women to make a worse mess of politics than the men have?
This particular rally targeted men rather than women. The nation was in a severe recession, and the audience of mostly men cried, “No!
Mrs. Boorman Wells, *, English Suffragette, Speech, Women’s Political Union Rally, Madison Square, New York City, December 31, 1907
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
Even as suave and sophisticated man as JFK was unsure of proper behavior with women involved in politics in the 1950s. In a way, this quotation shows us how far we have come in the half century following Kennedy’s statement.
Her husband had been assassinated. It is not uncommon that after a political assassination, the widow of the slain male politician, carries on the political legacy. But otherwise there are few female politicians in the Third World in general and the Middle East in particular. Arab and other cultures so severely restrict a woman’s mobility within the society that death of a husband or father seems to be the only vehicle whereby a woman enters politics.
Despite this pronouncement which kept Caliphs from being female, modern Islamic states (Pakistan, Indonesia) have had female Presidents.
She was the 5th female member of the House and its first Jewish member. She was the first woman on the House Military Affairs Committee, and was one of the few Republicans who advocated spending for military preparedness. At the time of her service, many Republicans were strict isolationists and were opposed to peacetime military spending. They accused the Democrats of being war mongers for wanting preparedness and a stronger military, After WWII, most republicans became Hawks, and after the Vietnam War, many Democrats became Doves. After the Iraq War many Republicans became Doves when they discovered that the President (George W. Bush) had either lied to them and the public, or made a major intelligence blunder.
Although she was living proof of a woman’s ability to accomplish what most men could not, she was always publicly differential to men and their sexism. Although she opposed women voting in Parliamentary elections, she did believe that women should vote in local elections where the understood the issues much better.
