It's Time To Retire The Term 'Women's Issues'

Why We Should Retire The Term 'Women's Issues'
Gale Walldorff holds a historic sign of a woman saying "Don't tell me what to do," during the "Walk in My Shoes, Hear Our Voice" Protest Monday, March 12, 2012 at the state Capitol in Atlanta. The rally Monday comes after the Senate last week passed measures banning abortion coverage under state employees' health care plans and exempting religious health care providers from having to cover birth control. Several women's groups and Occupy Atlanta walked in a single file around the Capitol from 11:30 am to 1 p.m. in support of these rights for all Georgia women. (AP Photo/Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Jason Getz)
Gale Walldorff holds a historic sign of a woman saying "Don't tell me what to do," during the "Walk in My Shoes, Hear Our Voice" Protest Monday, March 12, 2012 at the state Capitol in Atlanta. The rally Monday comes after the Senate last week passed measures banning abortion coverage under state employees' health care plans and exempting religious health care providers from having to cover birth control. Several women's groups and Occupy Atlanta walked in a single file around the Capitol from 11:30 am to 1 p.m. in support of these rights for all Georgia women. (AP Photo/Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Jason Getz)

A slew of news reports are casting Mitt Romney's performance in Monday's foreign policy debate as an effort to win women voters. Foreign policy isn't traditionally thought of as a women's issue, but that reveals a problem with "women's issues" in general: they don't really exist.

Everything traditionally identified as a women's issue affects people besides women, and you can find women who care passionately about pretty much every issue. This doesn't mean pundits and journalists shouldn't be talking about how contraceptive coverage, or healthcare, or the economy, or (yes) foreign policy can affect women disproportionately. It does mean people who talk about campaigns — and politics more generally — need to stop creating a special category called "women's issues" which we then take less seriously. If women are really going to decide this election, then it's time to recognize that their "issues" aren't a sideshow.

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