why women should not have the right to vote
Swirkal and Family
There’s an old joke. There is no “I” in team, but there is a “me” if you re-arrange the letters.
I’ve been on men’s teams since 1992, and I must have said (and heard) “you’re making it about you” thousands of times. We have many other sayings along these lines. Women have groups, men have teams. A team is more than just a collection of individuals. We can do what I can’t. And yet one of the main reasons I am on a men’s team is to achieve success in MY life, to use the support of trustworthy men to get what I want. So which is it? Is it “all about me” or am I supposed to put myself aside for some greater purpose that I suspect won’t really get me what I want?
My wife’s grandmother was an extremely tough old bird named Pumma. She ran an exclusive boarding school near Gstaad, Switzerland while at the same time raising five children and managing a large household for her successful husband. I’ve seen photos of her with her square shoulders, hard anvil face, breasts like a granite shelf… the kind of woman who could kick the shit out of most men in the division.
Most Americans are surprised to hear that Switzerland didn’t give women the right to vote until 1971. They were the last country in Europe to do so. People who knew Pumma were just as surprised when she declared that she was against women having the right to the vote. When she was asked why, she said, “Any women who can’t make her husband vote the way she wants him too doesn’t deserve to have power.”
Like I said, a tough old bird, but she was voicing an idea that goes back to the foundations of Democracy. Pumma believed the old idea that voting should be done by the head of the family, the father, because he was acting on behalf of the entire family. Important decisions should be made by families, not by mere individuals. It’s an idea were not used to in a self-oriented, “where’s mine” culture obsessed with achieving individual success.
When I was asked to write about “What three things make your life work?” I found it surprisingly hard to come up with an answer. My cynical side answered, “What makes you think it’s working?” My analytical side wanted to come up with three brilliant theories. But the more I thought about it the more I realized that I had a simple morning ritual based on what I’ve learned over the years of being a part of a men’s team.
My first thoughts of the day are usually about how I am going to get what I want. If I leave it at that, my day doesn’t usually go very well. If I take the time to think about my family, the people at work, what’s going on in the rest of the world, my context begins to broaden. But if I leave it at that my day doesn’t go so well either, because I usually end up selling myself out. My most successful days are when I find that “middle path” where I am working as a part of a team, but where the team also works for me. When I move through my day as the head of my family, and “vote” in their interest as well as in my own, the power of the team serves me as well as it serves the world.
I’ve been on men’s teams since 1992, and I must have said (and heard) “you’re making it about you” thousands of times. We have many other sayings along these lines. Women have groups, men have teams. A team is more than just a collection of individuals. We can do what I can’t. And yet one of the main reasons I am on a men’s team is to achieve success in MY life, to use the support of trustworthy men to get what I want. So which is it? Is it “all about me” or am I supposed to put myself aside for some greater purpose that I suspect won’t really get me what I want?
My wife’s grandmother was an extremely tough old bird named Pumma. She ran an exclusive boarding school near Gstaad, Switzerland while at the same time raising five children and managing a large household for her successful husband. I’ve seen photos of her with her square shoulders, hard anvil face, breasts like a granite shelf… the kind of woman who could kick the shit out of most men in the division.
Most Americans are surprised to hear that Switzerland didn’t give women the right to vote until 1971. They were the last country in Europe to do so. People who knew Pumma were just as surprised when she declared that she was against women having the right to the vote. When she was asked why, she said, “Any women who can’t make her husband vote the way she wants him too doesn’t deserve to have power.”
Like I said, a tough old bird, but she was voicing an idea that goes back to the foundations of Democracy. Pumma believed the old idea that voting should be done by the head of the family, the father, because he was acting on behalf of the entire family. Important decisions should be made by families, not by mere individuals. It’s an idea were not used to in a self-oriented, “where’s mine” culture obsessed with achieving individual success.
When I was asked to write about “What three things make your life work?” I found it surprisingly hard to come up with an answer. My cynical side answered, “What makes you think it’s working?” My analytical side wanted to come up with three brilliant theories. But the more I thought about it the more I realized that I had a simple morning ritual based on what I’ve learned over the years of being a part of a men’s team.
My first thoughts of the day are usually about how I am going to get what I want. If I leave it at that, my day doesn’t usually go very well. If I take the time to think about my family, the people at work, what’s going on in the rest of the world, my context begins to broaden. But if I leave it at that my day doesn’t go so well either, because I usually end up selling myself out. My most successful days are when I find that “middle path” where I am working as a part of a team, but where the team also works for me. When I move through my day as the head of my family, and “vote” in their interest as well as in my own, the power of the team serves me as well as it serves the world.
