Childless Cat Ladies: Women Reclaim Their Autonomy

 

There is a distinct parallel between the dynamic Weber describes in marital and gendered relations during the industrial period and the perspective of JD Vance and his relation to female leaders in the Democratic party. The infamous interview in which he referred to prominent female Democrats such as Kamala Harris and AOC as “a bunch of childless cat ladies” reflects the perpetuation of the patriarchal system Marriane Weber describes in Authority and Autonomy in Marriage; a system in which men and women’s positions of power are determined by an adherence to traditional marital values. The four images I chose display the term “childless cat lady” as an adornment and with symbols of empowerment in the form of stickers and a T shirt. The stickers feature decorative details and bright colors. The two images on the left feature patriotic imagery. The T shift features Rosie the Riveter, a cultural icon that represents female independence and empowerment in America. The black sticker that reads “Proud Childless Cat Lady” and features a black cat with an American flag design- bandanda wrapped around its neck, which associates the slogan with national pride. These shirts and stickers bearing the slogan “Childless Cat Lady” were created as an empowering response to the comment made by Republican Senator JD Vance in a 2021 FOX interview with Tucker Carlson. While this comment was intended to shame women for failing to uphold their traditional roles, these images reflect womens’ response as fully embracing this intended insult and instead embodying it as a source of pride and empowerment. The marital and gender relations under the patriarchial structure are what generated this perspective and narrow construction of womens’ identities. However, these created images demonstrate that we have reached a cultural and political moment in which women are fully embracing their autonomy from this structure and are pushing back against this label with expressions of pride and empowerment, rather than the shame that it was intended to provoke. The reconstruction of this term from an insult to a badge of honor represents the twentifirst century cultural shift and newfound understanding of female autonomy as a source of power. This empowerment that women are expressing through these items builds on Weber’s theoretical argument about autonomy over authority and represents a further departure from the deepset assignment of these gender roles. 

Weber cites the rise of the industrial period as the transition between womens’ responsibilities within the home and their expansion to gaining independence in the public sphere: “the increasing reduction of household work under the pressure of technical and economic forces compels a constantly increasing percentage of women to either temporarily or permanently stand on their own feet outside the home” (Weber 2003). She also points to the conflicting issue that the patriarchal structure enforces, which is a subordination of women to men within marriages. Therefore, the struggle at hand is mens’ inability to accept womens’ autonomy within marriages as it challenges the authority they are afforded by the patriarchy. Weber’s example of mens’ response to this challenge, which is “the inner protest of the patriachially disposes husband, who lacks the full, naive freedom from restraint of earlier times, is normally dressed up as a concern that the women is neglecting her family life and children” (Weber 2003) is apparent in this example of JD Vance’s expressed contempt towards women who are in high positions of power. This then reveals that Weber’s theory about marital relations under the patriarchy extends to include gendered relations and larger patriarchial ideals of how women should behave and what roles they should occupy. 

Clearly mirrored in Vance’s remarks towards women in the Democratic party is a strong dissaproval for women in positions of power that expand beyond the traditional roles of subservience and motherhood. But beyond this, we can apply Weber’s analysis of the underlying reasons for mens’ disapproval to JD Vance’s words. His full statement, that the U.S. was being run by “a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices they’ve made and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable, too” implies feelings deeper than disgust. Looking at Weber’s analysis for men’s reasons for attempting to control powerful women, she points to insecurity and a threat of losing their patriachial authority: “ [a woman’s] strong aspirations toward self-reliance and intellectual development necessarily fill a husband who is bent on authority with a severe uneasiness. He will not rest if he is not constantly secure also in his position as the master of her most personal inner life” (Weber 2003). Despite the fact that senators and congresspeople are supposed to occupy a strictly political, professional sphere, the implications of gendered expectations that Weber describes from the twentieth century are still evident today. JD Vance’s description of female politicians as “childless”, said as an insult, demonstrates an expectation that they should be fulfilling the role of motherhood. The “self-reliance and intellectual development” (Weber 2003) that these women clearly possess is intimidating enough for him to attempt to provoke a sense of shame by attacking their personal life choices. Though female politicians’ choices to have children should be completely irrelevant to their professional roles, this comment reveals that these expectations to uphold patriarchal values in traditional marriages is still a prominent concern for some men in power today. This theory connects directly to the consequences of women who do choose to develop a strong, individual identity that extends beyond one with traditional values; that they threaten the patriarchial sense of peace and order in which men occupy positions of power and womens’ power remains underdevloped in compliance. Further, it is evident that these female politicians have developed the sense of authority that Weber describes women who are compliant with the patriarchal system of losing: “this woman who, in order to comply with her husband’s wishes, did not fully develop her powers of moral judgement and her intellectual abilities is left mentally and spiritually far behind in the course of the years by the aspiring, alert husband” (Weber 2003). This sense of authority is echoed by the larger, Democratic female population through the creation of these shirts and stickers that align themselves with the identity of being childless, and more importantly, an expression of pride and empowerment by the liberation from the patriarchy that this identity affords. 

Sources 

Amazon.Com: Proud Childless Cat Lady Sticker, Black Cat - 3 Inches, Waterproof : Electronics. https://www.amazon.com/Proud-Childless-Lady-Sticker-Black/dp/B0DBH5SJ7V. Accessed 22 Apr. 2025.

Amazon.Com: CHILDLESS CAT LADIES VOTE ROSIE THE RIVETER T-Shirt, Small, Black : Clothing, Shoes & Jewelry. https://www.amazon.com/CHILDLESS-CAT-LADIES-RIVETER-T-Shirt/dp/B0D9LKFZVS. Accessed 22 Apr. 2025.

“Childless Cat Lady Sticker.” Bon Femmes, https://bonfemmes.com/products/childless-cat-lady-sticker. Accessed 22 Apr. 2025. 

Treisman, Rachel. “JD Vance Went Viral for ‘Cat Lady’ Comments. The Centuries-Old Trope Has a Long Tail.” NPR, 29 July 2024. NPR, https://www.npr.org/2024/07/29/nx-s1-5055616/jd-vance-childless-cat-lady-history.

Weber, Marianne, and Craig R. Bermingham. “Authority and Autonomy in Marriage: Translation with Introduction and Commentary.” Sociological Theory, vol. 21, no. 2, June 2003, pp. 85–102. DOI.org (Crossref), https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9558.00179.

https://www.redbubble.com/i/sticker/Childless-Cat-Lady-by-Boogiemonst/163183123.EJUG5