Kansas state senator Kay O’Connor, a Republican, made headlines last week for asserting that the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which guaranteed women the right to vote, was a mistake.

O’Connor had been invited by the Johnson Count League of Women Voters to attend the league’s “Celebrate the Right to Vote” luncheon. Instead of accepting, O’Connor declined and added that, “You probably wouldn’t want me there because of what I would have to say.”

After word got out that O’Connor had reportedly told the league that she didn’t think the 19th Amendment was a good idea, O’Connor confirmed and clarified her views for the Associated Press. According to O’Connor,

We have a society that does tear families apart. I think the 19th amendment, while it’s not an evil in and of itself, is a symptom of something I don’t approve of.

…

The 19th Amendment is around because men weren’t doing their jobs, and I think that’s sad. I believe the man should be the head of the family. The woman should be the heart of the family.

This radical conservative view of women as little more than children to, at least ideally, be watched over by men is as bizarre as any of the radical feminist views of relations between the sexes. It is difficult to fathom how someone living in a liberal democracy in the 21st century could seriously hold such archaic ideas.

Source:

Women’s suffrage called ‘mistake’ by conservative Kansas politician. John Hanna, The Associated Press, September 29, 2001.

The Kansas State Senator: Women’s Suffrage Is a ‘Symptom’ of a Sick Society by Brian Carnell, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License.

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