Please don't misunderstand me here - I'm not going to suggest that gender is the only issue at play in elections.
But no one has yet commented on the importance of the media - both the old MSM, the soft media, etc as reflectors of how ready Americans are to accept a woman in "the top job".
Based on how these groups covered and commented on both the Clinton campaign and Palin, I'd guess that it'll be sometime before a woman can successfully run for President.
I genuinely wouldn't have thought that, prior to this last year - I thought all that type of thinking was behind us.
Now I don't mean to suggest that sexism was *the*only factor this year. Not by a long shot.
There were a great many variables involved, not the least of which was the Obama campaign's brilliant political strategy.
But so many serious political commentators, (in Canada too to my shame) sneered at Hillary Clinton's clothes (Rick Salutin!), evaluated her in terms oh her husband's career, etc. They did this to Palin, too. a woman whose achievements were no less than Obama's, although certianly her ideology is different. But her narrative was a feminine one - that didn't "compute" in the heads of many media types.
And don't get me started on the hateful, sexist things that were out there on the internet. The t-shirts, the nutcrackers, etc And that South Park episode where a bomb is exploded in Hillary Clinton's vagina!
So the mind set is not yet there for enough Americans (and I'll suggest Canadians too) Yeah, enough will vote for a governor or a senator, etc - but not the top job.
btw, anyone catch ABC news last night - the shot of Palin speaking but the camera lingered over a long shot running up her legs?
Does the media influence people? Or is it a reflector of attitdues that already out there? Does it validate those attitudes, reinforcing them and making it legitimate to make trivialise female candidates? Hillary Clinton was much more often the target of SNL, late night host jokes, and Daily show shots than was Obama. Palin was too.
So a woman president won't happen in a long time. The posts above mine have presented lists of women who are qualified but that's just part of the answer to the question. Until we see a more balanced approach in the media (a gender blindness so to speak) any woman running for the top job will face a rougher time.
But maybe Obama will help change this - he's campaigned on "Change" and forging a new way of doing politics. Over half the population of the US is female. Half its work force is. More women have been elected to Congress - so it would be reasonable to expect, at the minimum, one third of Obama's top cabinet and staff jobs would be filled by women. So just maybe ...
c.
