Examines the significant role of women in the conservative movement
Notable for its radical conservative views, the Tea Party is progressive
in one way that much of mainstream US politics is not: it has among its
most vocal members not spokesmen but spokeswomen. Michelle Bachmann,
Sarah Palin, Governor Nikki Haley, US Representative Cathy McMorris
Rodgers, and many others are all prominent figureheads for the fiery and
prominent political movement. Many major Tea Party organizations, such
as the Tea Party Patriots, are led by women and women have been
instrumental in founding new right wing organizations for women, such as
Smart Girl Politics, with ties to the movement.
In Tea Party Women, Melissa Deckman explores the role of women in
creating and leading the movement and the greater significance of
women's involvement in the Tea Party for our understanding of female
political leadership and the future of women in the American Right.
Through national-level public opinion data, observation at Tea Party
rallies, and interviews with female Tea Party leaders, Deckman
demonstrates that many Tea Party women find the grassroots,
decentralized nature of the movement to be more inclusive for them than
mainstream Republican politics. She lays out the ways in which these
women gain traction by recasting conservative political issues such as
the deficit and gun control as issues affecting families, and how they
rely on traditional gender roles as mothers and homemakers to underscore
their particular expertise in understanding these issues. Furthermore,
she examines how many Tea Party women claim to write off traditional
feminist issues like reproductive rights and gender discrimination as
distracting from the real issues affecting women, such as economic
policies, and how some even reclaim the mantel of 'feminism' as
signifying freedom and independence from government overreach--tactics
that have over time been adopted by mainstream Republicans.
Whether the Tea Party terrifies or fascinates you, Tea Party Women
provides a behind-the-scenes look at the women behind an enduring and
influential faction in American politics.
