Ridiculed: Vice President Pence’s Prudent Policy

Ridiculed: Vice President Pence’s Prudent Policy

Scott Olson/Getty Images

Is never eating ‘alone with a woman other than his wife’ equivalent to sexism?

By Kieren Underwood • April 6

On March 28, an exposé on United States Vice President Mike Pence’s wife, Karen, appeared in the Washington Post. In it was this quote: “In 2002, Mike Pence told the Hill that he never eats alone with a woman other than his wife and that he won’t attend events featuring alcohol without her by his side, either.”

In a fit of unrighteous indignation, editors of some major magazines took to Twitter to lambast Pence for what is, to anyone with a proper understanding of human nature, a prudent principle for a happy marriage. Pence’s policy seems to be modeled after evangelical preacher Billy Graham’s rule, where he wouldn’t meet with a woman other than his wife to “avoid any situation that would even have the appearance of compromise or suspicion.”

Within the same Washington Post exposé was this fantastic quote, apparently ignored by Pence’s critics:

Friends and aides, meanwhile, say [Karen] is the Pence family “prayer warrior,” a woman so inextricably bound to her husband that even then-candidate Trump understood her importance and consulted her in critical campaign moments.

Pence’s policy is not intended to restrict, but to protect. To protect the beautiful institution of marriage. So the vice president loves his wife—enough to make sure he continues to love her. For the critics, that’s apparently just too much for one woman, and not enough for the rest.