by Emily U
(Emily U is casual observer of politics who enjoys reading, writing, knitting, and cooking when it’s not 5 pm and her kids are whining. She is a university administrator and sometimes lecturer in biology, and she’s one of those mothers Ann Romney mentioned in her speech who would love to spend less time at work and more time at home!)
I just finished watching Ann Romney’s speech from the Republican National Convention, and read Ruth Marcus’ opinion of it at the Washington Post. I’d would love to know what Exponent readers think of both of them. Marcus says Ann Romney’s speech was a “patronizing pander to women.” Marcus naturally looks at the speech in context of Romney’s party, which has a gender gap when it comes to women voters. But as a Mormon I’m looking at the speech in the context of Romney’s religion, which is one deeply rooted in traditional gender roles. To me Romney sounded like a mission president’s wife giving a “women are incredible” talk in Stake Conference. The whole thing just sounded so (sadly) familiar.
What was your take on the speech? Is Marcus’ critique apt? Do you think it was a calculated attempt to win women voters? Or was it really the only kind of speech we could expect from a traditional Mormon woman? Do you think it would resonate with women you know, or would they see it as inadvertently demeaning, as Marcus did?