New York City women overwhelmingly voted for Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani. Undoubtedly, his emphasis on affordability resonated with women struggling to afford childcare, groceries, and energy bills. Many likely found his optimism and promise to help poor communities appealing. Women want systems to help the vulnerable.
Yet these women overlook how they themselves are vulnerable, and their rights are vulnerable, when radical anti-Western politicians like Mamdani take power.
Put aside last-minute campaigning, and Mamdani has consistently supported reducing police power and punishments for crime. While this potentially impacts all law-abiding citizens, women are uniquely affected whenever a community becomes more dangerous.
A 2018 New York University study called “The Pink Tax on Transportation” found that safety concerns cost women an extra $25 to $50 a month because women avoided using public transportation at night. Women not only pay more to avoid danger but change their behavior. Thirteen percent of women in the NYU study also said they changed how they dressed because of safety concerns, compared to 3% of men. If anything, these numbers are surprisingly low given that three out of four female survey respondents reported experiencing some form of harassment or theft on New York’s transit system.
Those findings are from 2018. NYC transit safety deteriorated further post-COVID and the ensuing massive immigration influx. Today, New York officials celebrate improving crime statistics. Given that, in 2023, 16% of New York City residents reported in a Sienna poll having been physically assaulted that year, one certainly hopes New York is getting safer. Yet residents should remember how quickly crime can surge when leaders signal that criminal rights will once again be prioritized over policing and public safety.
New York women must brace for an incoming mayor committed both to reducing policing and making mass transit systems free for users. Free may sound nice, but New Yorkers will soon learn they have a cost in terms of lost safety as vagrants and criminals are invited to take up residence on buses and subways.
Mamdani speaks proudly of New York’s unique history as a city of immigrants, but glosses over the principles that made this tradition possible. Previous waves of immigrants to New York embraced their identity as Americans and the principles that underpin our way of life. Their expectation was that hard work, not housing and food assistance, would be their first step toward the American dream. New immigrants were expected to adopt respect for the rule of law, freedom of religion, and tolerance. They did not cling to their former countries as their true identity and homes.
Mamdani and too many other Democratic leaders who champion expanding immigration today have a different tone. Not only do they encourage newcomers to continue seeing themselves as defined by their country of origin, they reject the idea that becoming American requires anything beyond showing up within our borders.
The erosion of America’s “melting pot” tradition should particularly concern women since many of today’s immigrants to New York come from cultures that do not share our traditions of equality, rule of law, and tolerance. Modern progressive feminists forget that Western values allowed women to flourish.
Women’s full and equal participation in society is only possible in societies governed by the rule of law and when men are not allowed to use their great physical strength to overpower women. The third world remains the third world in part because they deny women access to education and work. Child marriage, female genital mutilation, rape and sexual violence are accepted, common practices across the globe. We do not want to import these deeply misogynistic traditions. Proudly, we want to change them.
Women’s progress depends on the Western traditions of rule of law, equality, and opportunity. Change may be coming to New York, but women should make sure that a commitment to the American ideals of rule of law, tolerance, and equality endures.
Carrie Lukas is the president of Independent Women. Follow her on X at @carrielukas.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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