Recently, Gov. Jan Brewer had a disagreement with Facebook about a post that was removed from her page by the social networking site. Someone felt it appropriate to superimpose Brewer’s face onto the body of Rosie the Riveter from J. Howard Miller’s famous “We Can Do It!” poster from the World War II era. Alongside Brewer’s likeness was the phrase, “doing the job the feds won’t do!” Great. I sure am glad Brewer’s on the case.
The post was removed by Facebook, and Brewer subsequently criticized the decision.
The original “We can do it!” poster was used to recruit women to work in factories while men were away in the military. It quickly became a popular feminism icon and a symbol of empowerment as it showed that women could do the same work as men. Keep in mind that, if women were employed at all, this was a time when women were expected to take on clerical or cleaning jobs.
Why am I giving you this history lesson? To explain why it’s deplorable yet comical, that Brewer is trying to depict herself in the same light as Rosie the Riveter.
Being that Brewer wanted to cut funding to the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (the state’s version of Medicaid), slashed school budgets, limited state abortion services, and endorsed SB 1070, I just can’t view Brewer as quite the same symbol of empowerment that Rosie the Riveter embodies. Let’s not forget this is also the same woman who complains about the state deficit, yet still wants to spend money on a border fence to keep those danged illegal immigrants out.
Focusing more specifically on her degrading acts towards the rights of women, this is the same person who recently signed legislation that led to a cut in the number of abortion-providing Planned Parenthood clinics in Arizona from 10 to three. This has made it more difficult for women to get these services and especially screwed over women in rural areas who now will have to travel significantly longer distances to receive care.
And this is the same person who, in an effort to take care of Arizona’s debt problem, thought it was a good idea to cut AHCCCS coverage late last year, including coverage for people in need of certain transplants.
While this action was reversed as of April 1 and transplant funding is now restored, at least two people died while in AHCCCS funding limbo, and childless adults are still locked out of AHCCCS, denying them coverage for necessary medical services.
She has slashed school budgets, thereby limiting the funds schools have to provide students with the equipment, teachers and other tools necessary for a quality education. The UA and other state universities have since had to raise tuition significantly to make up for the lost funding.
And don’t forget SB 1070, for which Brewer tried to drum up support by falsely claiming to find headless bodies in the desert. Brewer has been nothing more than a lightning rod for disgruntlement, having sparked protests and demonstrations around the country.
Given her inconsistent politics and consistently awful decision-making, her piss-poor debate skills, and her occasional inability to string two coherent sentences together, I have no idea how Brewer was even re-elected, let alone singled out as an inspirational woman.
—_ Miki Jennings is a journalism junior. She can be reached at
letters@wildcat.arizona.edu._
