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- iHaveNet.com: Politics
by Mary Sanchez
In light of this years primary election results, some may be tempted to call 2010 the political year of the woman. Don't be so sure.
The same week that saw the highly financed California primary wins of Carly Fiorina for a senate seat and Meg Whitman for governor, another story burst on the scene: speculation that Sarah Palin has gotten breast implants. "The
Ladies, we have not come far enough.
Besides, by the time the last votes are tallied in November, gains in elected women may be a numerical wash. Fiorina, after all, is vying to unseat Barbara Boxer, a three-term U.S. Senator against whom the former
Women are 90 of the 535 members of
Also worth noting is Nikki Haley's good shot at becoming South Carolina's first female governor, despite the nasty ethnic slurs and sexual innuendos her opponents threw at her. Haley, of Indian descent, endured potshot allegations of extra-marital affairs and being called a "raghead" by a fellow Republican in the state senate. As one political watcher noted, the mere mention of an affair "sexualized" Haley's campaign in ways that typically harm a woman's candidacy more than they would a man's.
The nation has had just enough successful female leaders -- think Nancy Pelosi, Hillary Clinton and Kay Bailey Hutchison, among many others -- that many of us have a skewed perspective of just how "equal" women really are to men politically.
Some female primary winners, such as Sharron Angle, the Republican nominee for
Used to be, woman candidates, be they Democrats or Republicans, would make specific reference on the campaign trail to their gender and how it would be an asset in public office. Today, they're more likely to run more on faithfulness to their parties' agendas. How that shift will bode for gender-specific legislation such as the Paycheck Fairness Act remains to be seen.
The last bump upward in women elected officials was 1992, after the disturbing treatment of Anita Hill by many male senators during the Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings. Women tended to feel that their dignity generally had come under attack. A record 29 women filed for the
It's enough to make you wonder if takes such outrages to spur more women to run or to elect female candidates. I think not. In today's world, the most effective female candidates have to show voters the same traits as their male counterparts -- the desire to serve and the firm evidence that they are qualified.
That's not to say we're past the age of offensive sexism in politics -- we're not. We've come a long way since feminists were derided as being "bra-burners," yet today Palin, arguably one of the country's leading political personalities, is scrutinized physically because she appeared at the Belmont Stakes in a white t-shirt? Somehow, that doesn't feel like unqualified progress.
Available at Amazon.com:
The Disappearing Center: Engaged Citizens, Polarization, and American Democracy
The Virtues of Mendacity: On Lying in Politics
Bush on the Home Front: Domestic Policy Triumphs and Setbacks
The Political Fix: Changing the Game of American Democracy, from the Grassroots to the White House
AMERICAN POLITICS
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