Former US secretary of state Hillary Clinton had possibly the most salient observation on her country’s recent midterm elections.
Clinton, who lost the 2016 presidential race to Donald Trump, said on Twitter: “It turns out women enjoy having human rights and we vote.”
The large turnout of women at polling stations in the elections for seats in Senate and Congress is being raised as one of the main reasons that the Republican Party – despite Trump’s own hectic campaigning for it over the past few weeks – did not get the massive “red wave” victory it had expected.
And, according to political analysts, the reason so many women turned out to vote Democrat was a reflection of the increased conservative Republican moves to fundamentally change society, the most recent of which was the overturning of many abortion rights by the Republican-dominated Supreme Court.
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What happened in America is an indication to politicians not to underestimate the power of women to punish you at the ballot box if you don’t pay enough attention to this important constituency. It is a lesson all of our South African politicians, from across the spectrum, should take on board.
The message from women is: stop paying lip service to our issues.
