A Tale of 2 Saturdays: Andrew Cuomo’s Candidacy and International Women’s Day

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PSYCHIATRIC VIEWS ON THE DAILY NEWS

Our “Psychiatric Views on the Daily News” column focuses today on 2 Saturdays, that of last week and that of tomorrow. I cannot say it is like Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities, being the best of times and the worst of times, but it sure seems like a dialectical time.

Last Saturday, on one side of the dialectic, the men’s side, Andrew Cuomo announced his intent to run for mayor of New York, despite having resigned from being governor 3 years ago amidst numerous sexual assault claims. Now he says that he is different and learned from the experiences.

On the other side of the dialectic, the women’s side, tomorrow is International Women’s Day, amidst Women’s History Month. On Tuesday evening during President Trump’s address to Congress, Democratic women dressed in hot pink, apparently to strikingly protest.

The theme for International Women’s Day is to “accelerate action.” That sounds similar to our video posted Wednesday that also advocated for a fast response to our avalanche of political challenges.

More power and more action is seemingly needed as women’s control over their bodies has decreased in regards to abortion opportunities, domestic violence, and the like.

In terms of politics, a Democratic woman gave the rebuttal to the President’s address, but we still have not had a woman President of the United States, although our American Psychiatric Association has had such leadership and still does right now.

In one of the current political challenges and changes, that of DEI, women were among the Civil Rights Act groups—race, religion, sex, color, and national origin—that were supposed to be the focus. The limited outcome studies show various results, but among women, it seems like White women have benefitted the most. That did not fit Kamala Harris and her run for the Presidency, but did fit the White woman Senator, Elissa Slotkin, who gave the rebuttal speech to the address to Congress. Overall, only about half of workers support DEI, and there is backlash and burnout when the program seems like a “blame and shame” show.¹ New models are emerging.

Gains in reducing sexism seem to often be hit and miss. It seems necessary for International Women’s Day to stimulate more concern with women’s issues now. Organized psychiatry, in terms of the American Psychiatric Association, is a model for other workplaces for the role of diverse women. Given that the month of Women’s History Month has just begun, may the day be an inspiration for the rest of the month and year.

Dr Moffic is an award-winning psychiatrist who specialized in the cultural and ethical aspects of psychiatry and is now in retirement and retirement as a private pro bono community psychiatrist. A prolific writer and speaker, he has done a weekday column titled “Psychiatric Views on the Daily News” and a weekly video, “Psychiatry & Society,” since the COVID-19 pandemic emerged. He was chosen to receive the 2024 Abraham Halpern Humanitarian Award from the American Association for Social Psychiatry. Previously, he received the Administrative Award in 2016 from the American Psychiatric Association, the one-time designation of being a Hero of Public Psychiatry from the Speaker of the Assembly of the APA in 2002, and the Exemplary Psychiatrist Award from the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill in 1991. He presented the third Rabbi Jeffrey B. Stiffman lecture at Congregation Shaare Emeth in St. Louis on Sunday, May 19, 2024. He is an advocate and activist for mental health issues related to climate instability, physician burnout, and xenophobia. He is now editing the final book in a 4-volume series on religions and psychiatry for Springer: Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, Christianity, and now The Eastern Religions, and Spirituality. He serves on the Editorial Board of Psychiatric Times.

Reference

1. Zheng L. What comes after DEI. Harvard Business Review. January 23, 2025. Accessed March 7, 2025. https://hbr.org/2025/01/what-comes-after-dei