As soon as Amy Coney Barrett was nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court, the left predictably pounced. A little less predictable were the inaccurate accusations about her involvement in People of Praise, a charismatic Christian group in which she held the role of a “handmaid.” Progressives saw this as their “gotcha” moment — as if it were evidence that she would chip away at reproductive and women’s rights.
But in reality, the “handmaid” title was that of a leader. It was given to women who counseled others on significant life events such as marriage and child-rearing. Realizing the term’s connotations have significantly changed over time, People of Praise changed it to “leaders.”
Regardless, liberal activists across the country came out in droves this past weekend, many donned in handmaid outfits, to protest Barrett’s nomination for fear of what they believe will lead to a loss of women’s equality and rights.
Ironically, many of the progressives who denounce Barrett also advocate for a system of governance that would impede the hard-earned progress of women. They fight for a system that believes more government, not civil society or an individual’s own merits and productivity, is the answer to every critical issue confronting the country.
This is a system that promises free education, healthcare, and daycare but, in return, assumes more control over one’s life.
A woman who has been nominated to the highest court because of her commanding intellect and impressive credentials is no more a “handmaid” in the demeaning sense these protesters use it than the women in their preferred government-dominated future.
It is policies such as the Green New Deal and Medicare for All, that require greater subservience to the government and less reliance on individual initiative and industry.
In truth, the free market system has liberated more women than any social policy. Further, policies that support economic freedom lead to greater gender parity.
According to The Heritage Foundation’s 2018 Index of Economic Freedom, there is a strong correlation between economic freedom and gender equality. This makes sense. The more economically empowered that women are, the more likely they are to advance professionally and in other areas of life, closing the gap between their male peers.
The United Nations, too, stresses the wide-ranging benefits of economic empowerment of women and a country’s overall economic health, saying that it is “central to realizing women’s rights and gender equality.” In fact, they’ve made women’s economic empowerment as key to achieving their 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Female entrepreneurship thrives when there are fewer impediments to starting a business — something that would be more difficult under a socialist system. Currently, there are 11.6 million women-owned firms in the United States, representing 39% of all private businesses and generating $1.7 trillion in sales. No other nation comes close to this level of female entrepreneurship.
An abundance of statistics demonstrate the financial gains made among women under the free market system. In America’s 50 largest cities, single females own more homes than do single men. Today, women control more than $10 trillion in U.S. household financial assets, a number that is likely to triple within a decade.
At the start of this year, women outnumbered men in the U.S. paid workforce for just the second time. Unfortunately, the pandemic has eliminated many of the job gains women have made in the past decade. The last thing women need are anti-growth policies.
In spite of all this, younger women are increasingly inclined to support socialism. An Axios poll last year found that 55% of women between ages 18-54 said they would prefer living in a socialist country. Yet at no other time in world history have women had as much freedom, wealth, or success as they have in the U.S. today.
The economist John Attarian once wrote that it is not capitalism that is ruthless, but socialism, which makes a society ruthless by denying individuals the ability to make their own decisions and turning government into the master.
Activists making accusations against Barrett must consider which system is more likely to reward women for the fruits of their initiative and which one is more likely to treat us all as if we’re “handmaids.”
Christine Czernejewski is a Milwaukee-based public relations consultant who served in the George W. Bush administration and as an aide on Capitol Hill. The views expressed are her own.
