Rachel Marsden: As women mark 105 years of voting, Pentagon chief Hegseth hits rewind | Opinion

Earlier this month, Hegseth reposted on social media a CNN segment featuring pastors opining that, “Women are the kind of people that people come out of,” which they somehow consider a reason to bar them from voting.

This is the same pastor who once also reportedly mused about the alleged “mutual affection” between slaves and their masters. No need to be a genius to connect the dots.

Another pastor offered up his concept of utopia: “In my ideal society, we would vote as households. I would ordinarily be the one to cast the vote, but I would cast the vote having discussed it with my household.”

Nothing says romance like reducing your spouse to a mere participant in your own personal focus group whose results are conveniently pre-tabulated. Way to give single women yet another reason to stay that way.

Most people hear this sort of fringe blather, and either just chuckle or roll their eyes. But not the U.S. defense secretary! Enter Secretary Hegseth, who apparently decided this was exactly the kind of sermon that his own online followers needed, reposting and captioning it: “All of Christ for All of Life.” Sounds suspiciously like a seal of approval.

The Pentagon press secretary scrambled to avert any such conclusions, clarifying that Hegseth is a “proud member” of a church tied to one of these pastors and “appreciates” his teachings — but not the main teaching in the clip that he appeared to have publicly endorsed, apparently. “Of course, the secretary thinks that women should have the right to vote,” the spokesman added.

Whether or not that’s true, the episode highlights how easy it is to smuggle fringe beliefs into the mainstream by laundering them through institutional and establishment power. Would anyone have even noticed, let alone cared, if Hegseth wasn’t the SecDef? Ironically, it’s the exact same process that Hegseth and his allies accuse the “woke” left of pulling off with the diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives that they’re now working to undo. Different ideology, but the same path to systemic entrenchment.

Hegseth is hardly in a position to muse about women’s “proper place.” According to the Daily Beast, his Pentagon office is basically a shrine to his “ever-present wife.”

The former Fox News producer has reportedly sat in on her husband’s work meetings and, according to NBC News, even received top-level info from a general via Hegseth.

If Hegseth ever dared to suggest to her face that she shouldn’t have voting rights, it’s not a stretch to imagine her clobbering him with one of those framed photos of herself, as he stared adoringly.

So how can this seeming contradiction possibly be reconciled? One of the pastors in the clip offered a clue: “The wife and mother, who is the chief executive of the home, is entrusted with three or four or five eternal souls.” In other words, in their worldview, women are exalted as Madonnas of the Manor, worshipped inside the domestic sphere as caretakers – sainted and indispensable – yet denied civic, political or economic power in the traditional “male” sphere of public life. In Hegseth’s case, one could argue that perhaps the woman’s traditional caretaker role – illustrated by his admission during his confirmation hearings that he was “saved by Jesus and Jenny,” his wife – really just extends beyond the home and into the Pentagon.

Step outside that box, though – wherever its boundaries may lie – and you’re just a rogue employee of Household LLC, with the shareholders demanding your termination.

One is left with the impression that women can be celebrated only as long as they are in some way extensions of that male authority. The logic plays out elsewhere in Washington, too. When Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard recently contradicted Trump on the Iranian nuclear threat, rumors immediately swirled that her position was in jeopardy. She quickly backpedaled on social media, which many interpreted as an attempt to keep her job. Trump also heaps praise on his female press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, but almost exclusively for her exceptional talent at parroting him. It’s loyalty, not independence, that earns adoration. Speak your mind and you’re out, but echo the boss and you’re Employee of the Month.

All this underscores the bigger missed opportunity for men seeking to reform the Washington establishment. Real disruption means letting women define themselves unilaterally and on their own terms, in whatever role they choose. And to be appreciated and valued regardless of that choice. What’s the point of revolution if it’s just going to amount to a bit of minor renovation? How women fare in the process is arguably a litmus test.

So the question lingers: if a woman in this administration truly pushed back, would she be treated with the same reverence? Or would she be swapped out for the next compliant “tradwife” archetype?

Of course, the left is hardly any better. Even in the most hardcore feminist circles, women who don’t subscribe to the full prix fixe menu of establishment orthodoxy often find themselves sidelined. Step outside the narrative and suddenly “sisterhood” has conditions.

More than a century after suffrage, women still face the same paradox. Power comes most easily for women when it’s derivative, deferential or decorative. The independent exercise of authority without male mediation or ideological conformity is still treated as a threat.

That’s why anniversaries like this matter. They serve as a reminder that democracy isn’t a quaint relic. It requires constant defense and vigilance against both weaponized nostalgia and leaders who still can’t decide whether women are truly their equals or just useful pawns. Preferably ones who pack lunch and smile for a photo op.

(Rachel Marsden is a columnist, political strategist and host of independently produced talk shows in French and English. Her website can be found at http://www.rachelmarsden.com.)

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