Will White Women Change Their Tune in 2020?

As we celebrate 100 years of women having the vote, and as we prepare to vote again in a matter of weeks, it seemed a good time to revisit how women chose to exercise their franchise in 2016.

It’s been widely reported that white women voted for Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton by a large margin. To be exact, 47 percent of white women in 2016 voted for Trump, according to a Pew Research tally of voters conducted in the month following the election. But statistics don’t tell us why they voted that way.

Why would white women eschew one of their own in favor of a racist, sexual-abusing con man? It wasn’t like Trump didn’t show his hand prior to the election. From the Access Hollywood tape and 25 women accusing him of sexual misconduct to his entrance into the race calling “Mexicans” rapists and killers and pushing the birther claim that Barack Obama wasn’t American, there was enough evidence to convict him in the court of public opinion, much less give anyone reason to vote for him.

African-American women were clear on the issue. They voted for Clinton by a margin of 98 percent. So again, why the wide disparity?

Could it be that white women are more concerned about preserving their white privilege than voting for a candidate who would more clearly represent their interests as women? There is ample evidence.

Of course, they would howl at even a hint that they might view the world through a racist lens. But examine the record. In the Georgia governor’s race, a CNN poll found that 75 percent of white women voted for Brian Kemp over Stacey Abrams, who advocated for a woman’s right to choose as well as voting rights. Abrams, of course, is Black. In Texas, 60 percent of white women voted for Ted Cruz, a supporter of Trump and Brett Kavanaugh, both accused of sexual assault, over Beto O’Rourke, who campaigned on improving women’s health care, among other issues. (Ninety-four percent of Black women voted for Beto.)

Many of these women couched their support for Trump behind Christian values, which when you’re talking about Trump is laughable. But it makes more sense when you add the adjective “White” to those “Christian” values.

Throughout this country’s history, white women have stood by their men during the most brutal periods of racial genocide against Blacks, Native Americans, Latinos and other people of color. They’ve benefitted from the privileges of white supremacy. And though they wouldn’t admit it, many are as loathe to give up those privileges as men.

So, they choose candidates they believe will best protect those privileges. They don’t have to be as crazy as those who show up at QAnon rallies or the women who call the police on Black people just going about their lives or the gun-toting Mrs. McCloskey of St. Louis, who brandished her pistol at Black Lives Matter protesters in front of her house. They can sit next to you in church or chat with you in the carpool line.

Even some of the sheroes of the Women’s Suffrage movement didn’t welcome their darker sisters into the fold, as they feared doing so would hurt their chances among Southern supporters of getting the 19th Amendment passed.

When Alice Paul organized the major suffrage march in Washington D.C. in 1913, she tried to appease racists in her organization by making Black women march at the back of the parade. Journalist and anti-lynching crusader Ida B. Wells wasn’t having it and famously joined the Illinois delegation from the sidelines as the parade passed and marched the rest of the way between two white participants.

Unfortunately, some of those racial tensions exist in women’s organizations to this day.

But if white women don’t vote in support of women’s issues for themselves, one would think they would vote for candidates who would protect their children’s futures; for example, candidates who would support affordable childcare, pass common sense gun laws, laws for equal pay and advocate for substantive climate change solutions before it’s too late.

They can no longer abdicate responsibility for educating themselves on current affairs to their husbands, pastors or other men in their circles. I always work as an election day clerk or judge and during one election, I actually overheard a white woman turn to her husband and ask him who she should vote for. It’s way past time for that. Black women have never had the luxury of leaving their wellbeing in the hands of anyone else.

White women need to stop doubting themselves and worrying about what others might think of them if they vote for progressive candidates and trust their hearts as they go into the voting booth. They also need to take a good look inside and examine why they keep voting against their own interests. Trump is trying to appeal to these very women as we speak with his demeaning “suburban housewives” rhetoric. The question is will they buy it this time or will this be the election where they start to assert what they really believe.

If they need support, they should seek out groups to explore different points of view. Go ahead. Get involved in the campaign of a candidate you like. And for God’s sake, turn off FOX! It’s not conservative. You’re being lied to and that’s the “fake news.” But don’t take my word for it. Read Brian Stelter’s Hoax.

If white women don’t stop voting to protect white patriarchy and start embracing the multi-racial society that is America, I contend that what their mothers, grandmothers and great-grandmothers fought so hard for, was in vain. They should just give back their vote.