Yesterday the Maine House of Representatives voted on accepting federal funds to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. We’ve written before about why accepting these funds is a good deal for Maine and you can learn more at www.covermainenow.com. But this post isn’t about the importance of expanding coverage for Mainers. It’s about the astounding fact that House Minority Leader Ken Fredette (R-Newport) thought that it was acceptable to say that the reason he was voting against accepting those funds is that he has a “man’s brain”. WHAT???!!! Thankfully Maine People’s Alliance caught it on video and you can read all about it at Think Progress, including this excerpt from his speech:
As I listen to the debate today and earlier debate on this bill, I can’t help but think of a title of a book, Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus. And it’s a book about the fact that men sort of think one way in their own brain, in their own world. And women think another way in their own brain and in their own world. And it really talks about the way that men and women can do a better job at communicating. Because if you listen to the debate today, in my mind — a man’s mind — I hear two fundamental issues. From the other side of the aisle, I hear the conversation being about: free. ‘This is free, we need to take it, and it’s free. And we need to do it now.’ And that’s the fundamental message that my brain receives. Now, my brain, being a man’s brain, sort of thinks differently, because I say, well, it’s not — if it’s free, is it really free? Because I say, in my brain, there’s a cost to this.
View our response on Facebook.
Setting aside the inaccuracies of Rep. Fredette’s comments, how is it possible that an elected official – one who has been selected to be a leader by his fellow Republican legislators – didn’t know that this is not acceptable? These types of comments, regardless of your party or position, are sexist and should have no place on the floor of the Maine House of Representatives. It’s not only an insult to Maine women, it’s an insult to all Maine people that Rep. Fredette would try to dismiss an issue like providing health care coverage to 69,500 Mainers by belittling women’s brains. There are more than 678,000 women and girls in Maine – our brains are not an insult waiting to happen. Welcome to 2013, Rep. Fredette. We won’t be quiet while you try to make us less.
-Kathy Kilrain del Rio
P.S. Don’t miss our response on Facebook – it was one of our highest viewed posts ever.
Kathy Kilrain del Rio is the Development & Communications Coordinator for the Maine Women’s Lobby and its sister organization, the Maine Women’s Policy Center. She can be reached at 207.622.0851 ext. 25 or kkilraindelrio@mainewomen.org.
