“Majority of People” Issues

Ever since the second presidential debate and the now notorious “Binders of Women,” there has been a resurgence of the press describing the two candidates’ campaigns as “pandering to women.”

I’ve always found the construct of “women’s issues” baffling; it’s often treated almost as a special interest group or racial minority voting block.

Last I checked (i.e. as of the 2010 Census), the US population is 50.7% female.  This means that issues of interest and importance to women are by definition those that are of interest to a majority of Americans.  Which means that “women’s issues” should really be called “majority of people issues,” aka “issues.”  And “pandering to women” is really just “pandering to the majority of Americans” which is, last time I checked, the whole point of a political campaign and election.