Augusta State House Visit

On March 28 I visited the Maine State House in Augusta with my women studies class and professor.  The first things I noticed inside the building were many pictures of middle aged white bearded men.  Very few blacks and women were represented by the selection of artwork.  In the hall was a defibrillator, used to restart someone’s heart by shocking them.  In the women’s bathroom was a personal scale.  These items show that particular groups of people work and are stereotyped at the state house.  The defibrillator is there due to the large numbers of older legislators, and the scale is in the women’s bathroom, well, because obviously women should be concerned with their weight when they are about to vote on important decisions for the community (?).

Our local legislator, Erin D. Herbig, from Belfast was available for interview that day.  My first question, to get right to the point, was a big one: “Do you feel respected?” Erin indicated  that (and this is my recollection, as she spoke too quickly to quote: ) she was aware of some gender bias, but that largely she felt respected as a state representative by the other legislators who were around 70% men.  What was further encouraging is that she felt that despite the bi-partisanship of the house of legislators, which might be inclined to work towards different ends, the republican and democrat legislators tended to cooperate to achieve things for the community.

That day in the house, a bill was being debated that would give the agro tourism a waver of liability for certain mishaps that might happen on the farm, i.e.: “I fell in your tractor rut.”  The argument for was that we needed to take some of the burden off of our local farmers who were threatened by unconscionable lawsuits.  However, Erin indicated that, to paraphrase, “If we take away liability for farmers, then pretty soon the lobsterman will want reduced liability.  And then eventually nobody can sue anybody.”  This is technically the “slippery slope” argument, as she pointed out, which is an argument where one small concession will lead to greater and greater change.  A society where nobody can sue anybody?  People might have to be more personally responsible.  It doesn’t sound like a terrible world.  On the other hand, people who are bad or negligent still ought to be liable for certain damages, for instance when an employee operates on faulty equipment owned by a company and gets hurt, it seems pretty important that people take responsibility for their action or inaction in dangerous situations.  It’s a hard call.

They spoke in the house about agro tourism but in actuality the debate was relevant for feminism.  After all, part of the fear around women’s rights, to the white middle aged man, is that small concessions of freedom, simply taking the chain off of women’s ankle (for instance, by requiring 50% sexual representation in government decision making bodies) may lead to greater and greater concessions of freedom and even matriarchy.

It was great however to see Erin and her female colleagues representing their groups.  In first wave feminism men argued that women’s rights were represented by the men in government.  In modern day, to see women representing themselves is amazing.  Our society has come an incredibly long way since the days when Sojourner truth argued for the right of blacks and women to vote.  When women participate in the legislature and protect the rights of the minority they are protecting my rights and the rights of others.  Social identity theory teaches us that as a member of the human species, if one of my brothers or sisters is subjugated for being a different color or sexual orientation, I know that I could just as easily lose my own rights and privileges for some arbitrary quality like skin color or sexual preference that ought not be used to measure a human.  If just one of my brothers and sisters is oppressed, I know, I am on a very real slippery slope towards losing my own rights.

The overall feeling at the state house was that people from all across the state had gotten together to vote on important issues because they care about the community.  I normally don’t vote so I feel more encouraged to take part in the democracy we have in America.  Next time I hear there’s a vote coming up for a local representative, I’ll pay more attention.