Problems With The Rule By Female Gerontocracy

   Michael Reynolds/EPA

 California U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein

 

A member of the US Senate since 1992, 88 year-old Dianne Feinstein seems to be demonstrating mental lapses that are compromising her ability to represent the citizens of the Golden State. 

There are many dimensions to a problem of this nature, one that is common to almost every family at one time or another. At some point Grandpa is a danger to others on the highways so he must surrender the car keys. Grandma can't keep up with her household duties, the kids have their own familial functions, so the much-loved lady ends up in a facility. None of the family members expect either of the them to make important decisions, financial or otherwise, even those that affect only themselves.

The idea that a person nearing their centennial year can be trusted to make an informed decision on complicated legislative issues is preposterous. Just as eight-year olds aren't issued licenses to drive, there must be an upper moratorium on congressional membership, even though an aged one may seem perfectly normal. Driver's licenses aren't given to primary school students that show exceptional maturity. 

But that's only a part of the problem. Women and men are biologically different. Women become mothers, men do not. A subject that has no doubt been in at least the background of human society for as long as there has been one is the biological fact of menopause. At a certain point in life women are no longer able to conceive. During the process leading up to menopause there are physical and mental changes that have always been apparent. The mental ones are the issue, and these changes often persist at one level or another for the rest of the female's life. This is a simple fact, not open to subjectivity, that has been true as long as women and men have walked the planet.

The American Cancer Society, serious about the incidence of breast cancer, says that an American female has about a 13% chance of suffering from it during her lifetime. Menopause, however, is 100% guaranteed for any woman that lives through adulthood. 

What does this mean? At various times and places in history unfortunate events have been blamed on "witches". Not all witches have been female but the majority have been older women. In Puritan Salem, Massachusetts, eccentric old women accused of witchcraft were hung in the early 17th century. No one would wish to do this now but nevertheless it's obvious that the menopausal experience can and does produce negativities around others, from its beginnings until death. That's a given as pharmaceutical companies spend an enormous amount of money producing and marketing medications meant to alleviate it, not always successfully.

The point is that older females, particularly in the West, have become more and more prominent politically and in government, at the elected, appointed and career level. This is an entirely new phenomenon. Historically, women were very influential but in a different sense than today. Charles Martel, victor over the Moors at the Battle of Tours, October 10, 732, and savior of Western Civilization was only able to become the Frankish leader and founder of the Merovingian dynasty through the efforts of his mother. 

Livia, wife of Roman Emperor Augustus, held no office in Rome but was closely connected to every victory and loss in the most powerful city-state in the West. Perhaps there is a biological reason that the most successful societies have been patriarchal ones. Maybe we shouldn't dismiss or ignore biology in a representative government. How can we be sure that a person appointed to a lifetime tenure on the US Supreme Court will still be able to understand the precedent of Marbury vs. Madison on their 90th birthday? Do we want a woman in the midst of a "hot flash" pushing the "big red button"?