Irvine : Women Urged to Go After Political Clout

Instead of living the American dream, many women are snared in a “living nightmare,” a member of one of this country’s most famous families said Saturday.

Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, the eldest daughter of the late Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, said President Reagan’s claims of a bustling economy may be an accurate depiction for men, but “many women still have far to go.”

Townsend, who lives in a Maryland suburb, was here to address a luncheon of the California division of the American Assn. of University Women. The AAUW promotes pay equity for women and educational opportunities for children through legislative lobbying.

Townsend, 35, implored the nearly 400 women not to become “just another special interest group” but to continue mobilizing as a political force. “We must demand pay equity, the ERA (equal right amendment) and adequate child care,” she said.

Passage of anti-discrimination bills is no guarantee that women will achieve power, she said. “We must take responsibility and we must take risk. Go for the real power.”

Townsend ran unsuccessfully for Congress in the November elections. She said she will try again.

“There is a difference between being involved in politics and being committed to politics,” she said. “Women need more political clout.”

One way for women to gain that clout is to gain a larger role in the military and the allocation of military spending, Townsend said.

“Women have no say in how the money going to the military will be spent. We should be accustomed to seeing women wield military power, “ she said, adding that it is “not right” that most of the military is made up of people who are “generally darker” because they had less opportunity for successful outside careers.

Also, women should not be forced to choose between a successful career and family, said Townsend, who is married to a college professor and has three daughters.

“Only if women directly confront the question of who shall raise the children will we take power as women,” she said.