So, Hillary Clinton (finally) officially announced that she’s taking the preliminary steps to make a bid for the US Presidency in 2008. This lady doesn’t mince words: “I’m in. And I’m in to win.”
However you feel about Clinton and her politics, it’s going to be fascinating to watch the way she will be portrayed by the media during the lead up to the big race. Although the international climate for female heads of states is warming up (see Chile’s Michelle Bachelet and Liberia’s Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, for examples), women in power, especially politics, tend to get a very chilly reception from the press, pundits and even fellow politicians. The recent Belinda Stronach episode shed some fascinating light on the struggles women still face when trying to break into politics.
Things to watch for: the way in which Clinton’s personal life gets dredged up (although this is arguably a common tactic for all politicians, when women are involved things like sex and relationships tend to dominate, whereas with men it’s their military record that’s a test of their manliness and loyalty to their country); accounts of her appearance when it’s totally unnecessary: tracking haircuts, suit colour, shopping expeditions, etc., and, of course, the irritating question that will not stop until the race is over (unless, gasp! she wins): is America ready for a female president?
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two comments
Here I am, blinking the sleep out of my eyes, clutching my morning coffee, clad in my PJ's and - BAM! The best news ever appears on the Shameless Blog. Thanks Nicole.
No, sadly, America is not ready for a female president. America is not ready for a lot of things, but for years I've been ready to see Hilary expose this embarrassing lack of readiness. It makes me want to immigrate south of the border just so I can cast my vote in 2008.
Okay, no it doesn't.
There's a great piece on Feministing about "The perils of being a well-dressed woman in Washington" that talks about how the press continues to ridiculously over-analyze the fashion choices of women in political leadership roles... Condoleezza Rice marked as a "dominatrix" because of a single pair of black stilleto boots and so on.
Check it out here:
http://feministing.com/archives/00637...
Posted by Stacey May
January 21, 2007, 10:27 AM
[...] Back in late January Nicole wrote a post about Hillary Clinton officially announcing her intention to make a bid for 2008 US Presidency. Nicole wisely asked us to watch for how Clinton would be depicted along the road to the race… [...]
Posted by Shameless Magazine - for girls who get it » So it
February 21, 2007, 9:51 AM
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