Schwarzenegger Remarks on Women Anger Many
Schwarzenegger Angers Many Critics After Ridiculing a Group of
Nurses at Women's Conference
By BETH FOUHY
The Associated Press
Feb. 22, 2005 - Could Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger have
another "woman problem" on his hands? Schwarzenegger made headlines in recent
months by deriding political opponents as "girlie men" and ridiculing a group
of nurses at a women's conference. Now, an effort to paint the state's
teachers as little more than a balky special interest group has angered many
critics, who have begun to question why constituencies dominated by women have
been subjected to such tough talk.
"He behaves like an arrogant patriarch with respect to women's
occupations," said Rose Ann De Moro, executive director of the California
Nurses Association. "Nurses, teachers, home health workers it's vulgar how
he's run roughshod over them. He's arrogant, and he's a bully."
As a candidate, Schwarzenegger was dogged by allegations that he had groped
and humiliated women on movie sets. Since then, he has won over many skeptics
by appointing women to key staff positions and relying on his wife, journalist
and Democrat Maria Shriver, as his closest adviser.
But recently, as he has pressed for budget cuts and a broad package of
government reform proposals, some of his turbocharged rhetoric has opened him
to charges that his views on women are demeaning and macho.
In December, a small group of nurses gathered at a state women's conference
to protest Schwarzenegger's decision to side with hospitals and delay changes
to the state's nurse-to-patient ratio. With Shriver in the audience,
Schwarzenegger responded to the protesters by saying, "The special interests
don't like me in Sacramento because I am always kicking their butts."
The nurses union denounced his comment, and the attacks on the governor
have only escalated since.
"The arrogance of taking on teachers, nurses and other professions where
women are underpaid, overworked and vital to society is beyond the pale," said
Jamie Court, president of the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights and
a frequent Schwarzenegger critic. "But Arnold is someone who treats women as
objects, so it's natural for him to have a tendency to disregard and devalue
professions that are made up of women."
The California Teachers Association and the California Nurses
Association recently showed a willingness to take on the governor, staging
protests and buying ads critical of his policies and proposals.
Schwarzenegger has denounced teachers for blocking improvements to
education and has made merit-based pay for teachers a centerpiece of his
government reform plan.
The teachers union is running radio commercials statewide criticizing the
governor's proposals. Top officials of the organization, as well as some
school administrators, also have accused Schwarzenegger of reneging on a
promise to deliver $2 billion in revenue to schools.
The nurses union has taken out full-page newspaper ads suggesting
Schwarzenegger's corporate campaign donors are the real special interests.
Last week, some 300 nurses and their supporters disrupted a movie premiere
in Sacramento, booing Schwarzenegger as he posed with actors Vince Vaughn and
The Rock.
"A mass movement is developing, and it's fascinating to see women coming
together," DeMoro of the nurses union said.
Schwarzenegger supporters dismiss the notion that either his rhetoric or
his reform efforts are overly harsh toward women or women's professions.
Instead, they accuse unions of using the controversies to generate publicity.
"To say that women voters perceive Arnold Schwarzenegger as a bully because
he's taking on a reform agenda belittles women," said Karen Hanretty, a
spokeswoman for the California Republican Party.
"This is not about any individual profession. It's about exposing organized
labor unions who have used their influence and set policies that have created
multibillion-dollar deficits both statewide and nationally."
Political analyst Tony Quinn said the danger for Schwarzenegger lies in the
widespread public fondness for teachers and nurses.
"Their strength lies in the fact that people genuinely like their teachers
and like nurses, even if they don't necessarily like their union," Quinn said.
Copyright 2005 The
Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Copyright © 2005 ABC News
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