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Perhaps we should have asked Helen Reddy for some clarification when she sang, "I am woman, hear me roar!" We assumed it was poetic license, not support for the heinous cruelty that generally follows a roar in the animal kingdom. The Lindsay Clancy trial put a new spin on the "I Am Woman" lyrics. When boomer mothers were angry, upset, or had enough of us rugrats we had a code, "Mom has the wooden spoon!" We would then run upstairs and hide, quiet as church mice. Mom did not chase. She would pound the stairs with the infamous cooking utensil and these parting words, "So there!"
We returned to mom-ground-zero when the wooden spoon was busy with dinner prep. Mom would not risk cake batter splatter just to swat a hooligan (all apologies to those who spare the rod and the spoon). Mom would give us the spoon to lick (apologies for reckless disregard of raw egg warnings). We survived Mom's spoon anger and raw cookie dough snacks.
Today's children now seem to be at higher risk, what with copycat killings by postpartum mothers. I offer a new code and strategy, "Mom's upset and has the exercise bands. Run for your lives!"
Our minds cannot cleanse the horrific descriptions of the methodical killing of three cherubs. Yet the forgive-and-forget harpies from the Clancy jury belittle the stand-alone juror. Their loyal followers use the internet to humiliate him. Our minds are tormented again, but we are silent. The Clancy groupies should incite a collective barbaric yawp from women, "We are nothing like this!"
Women have been sullen and mute about outliers who besmirch us. Society has lionized (no pun intended ) the worst choices to represent women. Begin with the low-hanging fruit: The "reality" series, Real Housewives. Because of schedule demands and budget restrictions, unscripted real-life women find themselves in exercise clothes all day until the kids enter middle school. Some days a shower is a luxury. The Real Housewives seem to be tied up with food fights at brunch and federal tax evasion. We are nothing like them but watch without protest.
In 2023 we had a trio of university presidents who came lawyered up to hearings on campus antisemitism. They were bumbling and cold-hearted. One of them, then Harvard President Claudine Gay, was asked if the bullying of Jewish students and protests calling for the genocide of Jewish people violated Harvard's code of conduct. Her inane answer: "It can be, depending on the context." No one asked what that context was. Plagiarism allegations then emerged about Dr. Gay. She is no longer president. The response should have been that Dr. Gay was a below-par academic. Her defenders had rationalizations - "That's just duplicative language without appropriate attribution," or "That's borrowing without quotes." Then came the old trope, "It's racism." No, it's wrong and inexcusable and the rest of us have careers without the shenanigans.
The best description of iconic Kamala Harris comes from Victor Davis Hanson, "She has a vocabulary of 500 words." She was touted as a role model Odd in that she was living proof of Henny Youngman's folklore on women and spending. In 15 weeks, Kamala blew through $1.5 billion). Former cabinet member Kristie Noam's behavior and spending were cringeworthy. We did not proclaim, "The rest of us are nothing like them."
Helen Reddy's lyrics told us that women are "strong and invincible." Yes, but don't expect us to handle what only women can do: childbirth. Eight months later psychosis with accompanying voices might set in with no bounds for excuses.
What has escaped those who preach "Postpartum depression is real" is self-contradiction. More from Helen's lyrics: "I can do anything!" Helen needed an "almost" in there. Those who emotionally excuse the Clancy behavior ignore systemic consequences. Picture a female pilot refusing to land a plane because voices are telling her to just crash the thing. "Sorry, postpartum stuff!" We have a new albatross. The Pregnancy Discrimination Act cannot overcome the fear planted by women. The brain of a chemical plant manager is churning away, "What if she has post-partum depression?" The manager will hire any other equally qualified candidate without that risk gets. Women of child-bearing age have just hoisted themselves as their own feminist petard.
In the television series Cheers, the gang at the bar learned of a male scoundrel amongst them. Postman Cliff Clavin shook his head, "I'm ashamed G od made me a man." Carla's retort was, "I don't think G od's doing a lot of bragging about it either." I am not ashamed G od made me a woman. But G od is probably not doing a lot of bragging about my silence on other women's conduct.
We did not join in the excuse mantras, but we did not roar, "The rest of us are nothing like this."
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Professor Jennings has hundreds of articles in academic, professional and trade journals. In 2006, Emerald Management Review named her article, "Ethics and Investment Management," one of the top 50 articles in 2005. She was named a Top 100 Thought Leader by Trust Across America and one of the 100 Most Influential People in Business Ethics by Ethisphere. She is a contributing editor for Ethikos and the Real Estate Law Journal. She has been an emeritus professor at Arizona State University since 2015. In addition to serving as an associate dean and director of the Executive MBA program, she served as director of the Lincoln Center for Applied Ethics at Arizona State University from 1995-1999. She continues to teach graduate courses in business ethics and ethical culture at ASU and other colleges around the country. She is an instructor and mentor for Wiley's CPAExcel review course.