Two Steps Forward, One Step Back
November 1, 2010
by Anne E
|The opinions expressed herein are those of the author, and not necessarily those of The New Agenda.
In the last 50 years, women have won rights and access to professions that our grandmothers could only dream of. We now comprise more than 50% of college students, and approximately half of law and medical students. But there is one profession that has posted a “No Girls Allowed” sign on the door, and that is politics. The United States ranks 85th in the world in the number of women it has in legislative bodies putting us on par with such female nirvanas as Afghanistan and South Korea. As long as the women of the United States are marginalized in the political arena, our roles in this society will not improve in any appreciable way.
Based on a study by political scientists Jennifer Lawless and Richard Fox, the article “Hitting the Glass Dome…” articulated reasons women do not run for office:
- Fewer women are recruited by their parties.
- The majority of family responsibilities still fall on women and it is more difficult to achieve a work-life balance.
- Campaigns are long and arduous.
- The perception of a fair environment.
The first three items can be circumvented, because women have a measure of control; it is the last item that discourages women from the political arena. Women can encourage their parties to recruit women, they can run for office at a point in their lives when they have fewer family responsibilities, and they can follow campaigns through to the end, but women cannot control the media and its attempts to have women candidates fit in a mythical “one size fits all” category like pantyhose. Sexism in the media is the greatest obstacle to women; as Hunt and Healey state “women who watch other women subjected to degrading treatment are deterred from running for office.” And isn’t that the point?
Regardless of the stature of the female candidate, sexism has the power to derail a political campaign. Most of us have felt the sting of sexism, but a recent political study quantifies just how debilitating sexism is to a political candidate. The study conducted by Democratic pollster Celinda Lake’s Lake Research Partners, yielded results that women and women candidates need to take to heart. The research group conducted a survey with 800 respondents and a fictional pair of congressional candidates, one male and one female. When even mildly sexist language was used, “ice queen,” it cost the female candidate twice as much support as a policy related debate cost the female candidate.
This drop in support ran across gender lines, age lines, and educational lines; sexism was an effective tool derailing the female candidate. While many candidates have tried to “rise above it,” and not respond to the sexist baiting, this tactic is not effective. Women who responded to the attacks by addressing the sexism saw a rebound in their level of support; while the women who did not often lost. It is unclear if the rebound was due to the fact that nobody respects a doormat, or if the initial response to the sexism is to accept it because it is culturally ingrained and then to reject it when pointed out and shown to be unreasonable.
People use what works and clearly sexism has been effective. Sexism is used because special interests have a vested interest in excluding women from power because they like the system just the way it is and are loathe to change. But if women want their lives to improve and their children to inherit a better world, it is time to ditch the “good girl” act, stop being conciliatory and start acting as if we deserve our rights. We need to confront sexism regardless if it is the “Iron My Shirt” variety experienced by Hillary Clinton or the prurient and puerile interest in Christine O’Donnell’s sex life.
Democracy is not about excluding people based on their packaging, but including people; this nation will not truly be a democracy until more women have a seat at the table and the nation recognizes the basic humanity of 52% of its people. Women need to stop asking for respect with their “inside voices,” and start insisting on it with their “big girl” voices.
Anne E,
Thank you pointing out the fact that the majority in power (men) are loathe to change and don’t want to give up the cushy system they built for themselves and that women have got to stop being conciliatory if we want our lives and the lives of our children to change for the better.
I would add only one more thing to your article…”woman need to start demanding the rights that have always been our’s…those unalienable rights endowed by our creator meant for ALL of us, NOT JUST TO MEN.”
if you’re so bent on telling women what to do then you should rally a street protest with fliers.
Well said! Sadly it is not possible to ask for power and receive your share. If you want power you have to take it by force and once you get it you have to defend it from erosion constantly. But there is no question in my mind which of the two sexes has the most guts to keep going.
“People use what works and clearly sexism has been effective”. Using sexism was effective for Democrats in 2008 and for Corporate Media’s efforts to install their chosen one in 2008. In the long run it cost them a great deal although so far they have been too stupid to realize it. Corporate Media has close to zero credibility and have lost viewers and Democrats have lost a huge block of loyal voters. Or should I say the alleged Party sponsored sexism allegedly has cost Dems loyal voters and the 2010 election.
That’s a great article and those things are all true, but I believe it goes even farther than that. Many women won’t run for office because they know they will be attacked, but also that their children and loved ones will be attacked, not just with general election nastiness, but with incredibly vicious and unfair smears. Chelsea Clinton for example, having to grow up in the spotlight with idiots talking about how “ugly” she was. Bristol Palin being labeled “impure”, “fat”. We all know what a bad day in middle school is like for our children, imagine living that day over and over again in front of TV cameras.
The other part is the sheer nastiness of the personal attacks the female candidates themselves will experience. Christine O’Donnell has had intimate sexual comments about her lack of bikini waxing published, for goodness sakes. Personal, private details about you will be fabricated and published in attempts to humiliate you. Being a female candidate is often a bit like standing naked in front of the whole country and allowing them to pass judgment on all your flaws.
ITA with yttik. It’s like living in the 19century, when if a woman dares step forward she is attacked as indecent, crazy… they would lock women candidates in pyscho wards if they thought they could get away with it.
“women who watch other women subjected to degrading treatment are deterred from running for office.”
But it’s vitally important to women to allow this to happen, because if a less than Jesus-Christ-Perfect woman gets in office and doesn’t do perfectly, she’ll be attacked! We can’t let her be attacked after winning office, so we have to stand back and let her be attacked so badly that she never achieves office! Because the high-profile failure of getting metaphorically gang-raped repeatedly for months on end will save us from the high-profile failure of her … winning the election and gaining office …
Waitaminit …
It says so in Ms. Magazine someplace! I swear it! Let me look it up …
kiuku,
Was your kind remark directed at me?
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