The Wall Street Journal's Kimberly A. Strassel attempts to advise the Republican party on how to woo women voters this week.  Forget reproductive freedom, pay equity and equal rights.  What women really want is an end to that oppressive 40 hour work week, a reformed tax code, and privatization of social security.

Quote:

The Democrats' own views of what counts for "women's issues" are stuck back in the disco days, about the time Ms. Clinton came of political age. Under the title "A Champion for Women," the New York senator's Web site promises the usual tired litany of "equal pay" and a "woman's right to choose." Mr. Richardson pitches a new government handout for women on "family leave" and waxes nostalgic for the Equal Rights Amendment. Give these Boomers some bell bottoms and "The Female Eunuch," and they'd feel right at home. Polls show Ms. Clinton today gets her best female support from women her age and up.

The rest of the female population has migrated into 2007. Undoubtedly quite a few do care about abortion rights and the Violence Against Women Act. But for the 60% of women who today both scramble after a child and hold a job, these culture-war touchpoints aren't their top voting priority. Their biggest concerns, not surprisingly, hew closely to those of their male counterparts: the war in Iraq, health care, the economy. But following close behind are issues that are more unique to working women and mothers. Therein rests the GOP opportunity.

Apparently my priorities as a Democratic woman voter are backwards.  Strassel thinks the GOP can help me see the light on issues that matter to me, a modern woman in 2007.  Then again maybe she isn't talking about me at all.  Strassel has a very narrow view of the modern woman: married, working, caring for dependents, middle to upper middle class.  Most women probably wouldn't fit into her scenario and those who do are more likely to be Republican voters already.

What's interesting is that Strassel doesn't mention single women voters at all.  Yes, Republican social policies often seem designed to screw single women over, particularly if they have children, but you'd think that she'd at least pay this large and under tapped group of women voters some lip service.  According to a report issued by Women's Voices Women's Vote 47% of American women live without a spouse.  Strassel's piece completely ignores half the female population.  

Reframing a few issues isn't the way to win over women.  Strassel does point out that women aren't a monolithic voting bloc, but offers no suggestions for targeting women beyond her limited example.  She ends her piece by saying that future generations of women voters will be won by the party that progresses beyond the stale rhetoric of women's "rights".  Personally I think future generations of women voters will be won by the party that actually stands with us on issues like reproductive freedom, pay equity, and equal rights.  

H/T to Amanda Marcotte for the aricle.