We need to talk about Conservative Women and their threats to Women's Rights

I am tired of pretending this is not a problem just to avoid being called a misogynist.

In my opinion, conservative women pose a uniquely serious threat to women’s rights, often more so than conservative men. Not because they are women, but because they actively legitimize and enforce systems that harm women while insulating those systems from criticism.

When conservative men attack reproductive rights, bodily autonomy, or gender equality, we correctly recognize it as patriarchy doing what patriarchy does. When conservative women do the same thing, it gets reframed as “choice,” “values,” or “a different perspective,” even when the outcome is the same erosion of women’s freedoms.

Conservative women do not just support regressive policies. They provide moral cover for them. They are used as proof that these policies are not sexist because women support them. That cover is powerful. It blunts outrage, fractures solidarity, and makes resistance easier to dismiss.

This is not abstract or theoretical for me. Conservative women made my life a living hell growing up. They were the ones who policed behavior, punished nonconformity, rewarded obedience, and framed cruelty as morality or character building. The men may have held formal power, but these women enforced it daily.

I have seen the same pattern repeat in the workplace. In my experience, conservative women often make especially toxic bosses. They are rigid, punitive, obsessed with hierarchy, and deeply threatened by other women who do not mirror them. Control is constant, dissent is personalized, and retaliation is often justified as professionalism or standards.

What makes this especially infuriating is that many conservative women benefit directly from feminist gains while working to dismantle those same rights for others. They can vote, work, own property, control their finances, and then argue that other women do not need or deserve autonomy.

Pointing this out is not misogyny. It is political analysis. Feminism is not obligated to shield women from criticism when they actively participate in undermining feminist progress. We can acknowledge that women are harmed by patriarchy and still hold women accountable when they uphold it. Silence helps no one.

https://www.reddit.com/r/women/comments/1qnlvmu/we_need_to_talk_about_conservative_women_and/