Held to a Higher Standard

Towards the end of her book, Kornblut discusses how women often do not automatically support other women. In fact on page 160 she writes, "So support from women is not a given; at times it is hard to earn. Strategists who work with female candidates describe women voters - across the political spectrum - as a constant challenge even when the voters' ideas and values align with the candidate's." As I mentioned in an earlier comment, I do not vote for someone running for political office based on gender. However, I must admit that there is a small (maybe subconscious) part of me that does hold women to a higher standard than men. And not just in politics. I think one reason I do this is because I am afraid that a public "mistake" made by a woman could set all women back. For example, some might argue that Hillary Clinton failed to win the Democratic nomination because she was a woman and the American public is simply not ready for a president that is a woman. Arguments such as this one are nearly impossible to win. So, until the argument is that Hillary Clinton did not win the nomination because the country did not want Hillary Clinton leading the nation instead of because she was a woman I will probably continue to hold women to a high standard. I know this is probably not fair and could be damaging to women overall but I think we still have to prove that regardless of being a woman we are up for any job and can not only do the job as well as a man but we can do it better than a man.