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I found this interesting because it really delved into a lot of different points/analysis. Here are my favorite parts of the article:
- But the fact that a female candidate criticized another female politician's appearance has opened up a Pandora's box of opinions on the "mean girls" debate and prompted the question, "Where is the sisterhood?"
- But many women in politics argue that Fiorina's comments shouldn't be read into as more than an embarrassing moment. The spotlight her comment has garnered, said Ann Lewis, a former aide to Hillary Clinton, shows that women are still held to double standards compared to their male counterparts.... "What's striking to me is that this is a standard that's being used for women candidates, not for the men. I have seen no columnist asking, now that he's a nominee, how does Rand Paul really feel about Mitch McConnell?"
- "For all the strides we've made as a nation, including electing our first black president, somehow it's still acceptable, if not High Five worthy, for the poison keyboards and the cable punditry to go straight after a woman in politics based on who her husband is, how she looks or what she's wearing," Conway said, adding that the coverage of Fiorina's gaffe has been overblown. "Part of that is women are relatively new to politics and people are figuring out how to cover them."
3 comments:
Great find, Erika!
If you take a loot at the Daily Beast article quoted in this article- Kornblut is actually referenced!
"Anne Kornblut, author of “Notes from the Cracked Ceiling,” concluded that the 2008 election cycle dimmed women’s prospects of reaching the highest office in the land. Many political observers thought that Tuesday’s primary election results had the potential to poke a hole in that theory. But Fiorina’s sarcastic “diss” of her opponent’s appearance may show why the presidency remains out of reach for the current crop of women candidates, at least for now."
See- http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-06-10/barbara-boxer-hair-gaffe-will-cost-carly-fiorina-plenty/
I think that this is another interesting take- how do incidents like these reduce the general feasibility of female candidates for national office?
Definitely a great find - I think that article does a good job of including a lot of disparate elements to the "mean girl" issue.
I think that "Where is the sisterhood?" question is especially interesting. When a male politician makes a rude comment about another male politician no one would ever say "Where is the brotherhood?", would they?
I mean obviously it is a different context, but maybe a good way of approaching this could be to encourage more civility in politics in general -- which I think this article hints at without explicitly stating.
This reminds me of something we talked about in class last week or the week before...
That when women go negative (against an opponent) it looks like they are being weak and piety, but when men go negative it displays a sense of power. Now that is a stereotype that can be super destructive for women trying to run for office. A bonanza of stereotypes label women that are direct and opinionated as "moody," "bitchy," "gossipy" and "emotional." One of the terms that I think is the most popular term used to describe a woman especially in the work place, is "catty."
Really you cannot live in a sexist society without absorbing some of those messages, which make women feel worse about themselves and suspicious of other women. Seems like the enemy is a cultural messages, not women against each other and themselves.
Really, I think there are long-established attributes that are assigned to men and women. Women take care of others and nurture, while men are seen as taking charge and being assertive. The problem is when we map these attributes onto the workplace or a leader the male attributes are much more sought after. The perceived attributes of women don’t fit the leadership mold especially in the often cut-throat world of politics. It seems like when women succeed in areas they’re not supposed it is disapproving by both men and women.
The question becomes, “Will men and women ever see beyond these ingrained beliefs and accept women as conductors on the career express? To me it’s all about preconceived notions of the leader image… like Sharon talked about in class, when people close their eyes and visualize the top dogs sitting around the corporate table -- we picture men in leadership roles. As a woman you already have this hurdle to overcome.
So we women are stuck between a rock and a hard place, we must try to be ambitious without overdoing it. Often we don’t want to come off too confident and aggressive for fear of being labeled bitchy. But they also don’t want to be wishy-washy or risk being called indecisive or emotional. What to do, What to do?
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