John Kasich, current Republican Governor of Ohio, is still campaigning for the Presidency. He has somehow convinced himself and those in his immediate circle of staffers that there remains a plausible as well as possible way to the White House. Reliance on the remote possibility of a brokered convention is not a political strategy of any merit or substance. In fact, the argument can be made that such poorly spun strategy disenfranchises or at least marginalizes those who fall victim to this unique form of folie a deux, so often seen between conservatives and their candidate. The campaign continues more for the hubris of said candidate than to effect change or influence the national conversation. Kasich's campaign calculus is rooted in fiction much more than it is in fact. This scenario then begs the question--Who is still voting for him? And why is anyone, irrespective of party affiliation, supporting his campaign?
Kasich is against paid maternity leave; opposes the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA); opposes equal pay for equal work; and is governor of a state which has yet to pass into law any legislation against female genital mutilation (FGM). And arguably the most nonsensical, contradictory part of this candidate's composite is that he is father to twin daughters.
Recent studies show that less than one-third of working women in the United States are employed by companies that offer paid maternity leave. In addition, 40 percent of the Nation's labor force remains ineligible for the paid leave mandated by the Family and Medical Leave Act. Consequently, women who are either the sole or primary wage earners for their family have a vastly reduced or completely evaporated income should they become pregnant and take leave to deliver. When Kasich was in Congress, he voted against the FMLA not once but twice. Apparently, Governor and Candidate Kasich is either too arrogant or too inept or a combination thereof to ever imagine either of his daughters being single mothers or working mothers or mothers. Because if he did, the following series of sentences would never have been spoken in response to a reporter's question regarding paid maternity leave: The one thing we need to do for working women is to give them the flexibility to be able to work at home online...The reason why that's important is when women take maternity leave or time to be with children, then what happens is they fall behind on the experience level, which means that the pay becomes a differential. Besides the fact that his response is barely coherent and makes absolutely no sense either economically or sociologically, somebody keeps voting for this man and electing him to office. And even more frightening is the fact that in the US, Kasich is considered an educated man. An educated man votes against legislation that could only benefit his daughters, their future children, their future families? An educated man believes that his daughters deserve to earn less than a man for the same work? An educated man does not see female genital mutilation as a human rights violation?
Again, Governor Kasich does not support equal pay for equal work, nor does he support the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. This is demonstrated by the gender-based disparity in pay among those employed by his campaign. For example, the average salary for a woman employed by the Kasich presidential campaign is $55,300, with a median salary of $44,900; while the average pay for a man employed by his campaign is $60,700 with a median salary of $60,000. Of the ten highest paid Kasich campaign employees, nine are men.
Only 23 states in the US have specific laws against female genital mutilation, despite the remote and recent passage of Federal legislation proscribing the practice. Ohio, the state to which Kasich is governor, does not have legislation prohibiting FGM practices nor does it have legislation prohibiting parents, grandparents, legal guardians, from taking girls out of the country for the purposes of female genital mutilation. The World Health Organization recognizes four types of FGM: Clitoridectomy, total or partial removal of the clitoris or prepuce; Infibulation, the most radical form of FGM in which there is removal of all external genitalia and the vulva is stitched closed; Excision, partial or complete removal of the clitoris and the labia minora, with or without concurrent removal of the labia majora; Other, all other procedures, practices done to female genitalia for a nonmedical purpose.
FGM is performed for several reasons: to control a woman's sexuality, i.e. maintain virginity before marriage and fidelity during; to increase a girl's eligibility/attractiveness for a marriage match and ultimately make her more accepted within her ethnic/religious community; and as a traditional rite of passage. According to a January 2016 survey conducted by the US Department of Health and Human Services, more than half a million women in the US have either been subject to FGM or are at risk for an FGM procedure. Internationally, female genital mutilation is recognized as a form of torture and extreme violence against women and girls, and is a human rights violation. It is performed without benefit of anesthesia, anesthetic or analgesia; it can and often does cause sepsis, infection, incontinence, miscarriage, hemorrhage, as well as birth and pregnancy complications. It is also a cause of neonatal and maternal death.
Maybe, Governor/Candidate Kasich doesn't believe that Republican girls have these parts and could never be caught in a scenario where they or their daughters could fall victim to FGM. As a physician, I feel compelled to inform Mr. Kasich that Republican girls, in fact all biological and some not so biological girls, are endowed with this anatomy and can be subject to FGM if not granted legislative protection. In Ohio, according to the Population Reference Bureau, 24,320 women and girls are at risk for FGM; 12,079 are under the age of 18 years, while 12,241 are older than the age of 18 years.
In fact, women are vulnerable to all sorts of equal rights violations and indignities when legislation is not put into place to offer protection and deterrence. By choosing to exclude women from such considerations as equal pay, paid maternity leave and protection from female genital mutilation Kasich squarely disqualifies himself from consideration for President of the United States, as he does not feel an obligation to advocate for more than 52 percent of the population, women--a special interest group to which three members of his immediate family belong.
Please reference: law.cornell.edu, equalitynow.org, theslot.jezebel.com, dispatch.com. npr.org, prb.org
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