Once the Evil Empire Is Gone

I'll take a shot at going first.

There is a reason that George Lucas made prequels to the Stars Wars saga instead of sequels. What exactly do you do once the evil empire is gone? The opportunity we have mirrors the opportunity that the US has in general. We spent an enormous amount of time and energy fighting bad policy. Suddenly, that weight has been lifted. How do we keep our momentum going in a world where we can move forward instead of just trying to avoid sliding back?

I think the answer is to set, and publicize, some ambitious yet achievable goals. We have an opportunity here, but we need something to rally around. Many problems affecting women have solutions that have been proven to work. In particular, getting girls into school and reducing maternal mortality are ripe for serious attention. What we need to do now is push hard to get funding and prioritize education for girls and safer motherhood.  Setting challenging targets would be one way to do that.

This post is part of the After the Gag Rule salon hosted by RH Reality Check and UN Dispatch.