Whether a person has children or not has nothing to do with her qualifications for political office. Yet for women, motherhood is too often used as an indicator of a candidate’s compassion and concern for the future. While these are laudable qualities, motherhood is not a necessary condition for inhabiting them. When we assume that it is, everybody loses.
British Prime Minister contender Andrea Leadsom was recently quoted as saying “that being a mum means you have a real stake in the future of our country, a tangible stake.” U.S. Green Party Presidential candidate Jill Stein seems to agree; on Mother’s Day, she wrote that she wants our next President “to reflect the values that are part of being a mom,” defining those values as “taking care of others and being compassionate, starting with our children.” While Leadsom later claimed that her words were taken out of context, the implied conclusion from both sets of remarks is obvious: women who are not mothers or do not embody a “maternal” nature are less qualified to lead nations.