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Conversation | 05/21/2008 8:35 am

Percentage of Voters Say They Would Never Vote for a Woman, Regardless of Qualifications

© AP

Editor’s Note: Featuring Kathleen Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center, a professor of communications and the former dean of the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania.

LESLEY: Well, what about sexism? Yeah, let’s talk about the second “ism.”

LIZ: Can I say something?

LESLEY: Please.

Click here to read Part One: At a Table in So-Called Liberal NYC, Woman Announces: I’ll Never Vote for a Black Man for President.

Click here to read Part Three: Who Says Older Ages Equal Serious Health Problems?

LIZ: I want to preface my remarks now by saying I’ve always been a really lousy feminist and Gloria Steinem once said that I was the worst because, she said, “Liz, you want to be the only Jew in the club.” And so I got the message then. I tried to repent. But now sexism is coming late to this discussion. I think it’s probably too late. And I think the sexists mostly all say they just don’t like Hillary. But they don’t have anything against women in office. I think if you look at the statistics, 13 percent of voters say they would never vote for a woman no matter how qualified she was. And our friend Cynthia McFadden spoke this weekend at Bryn Mawr and she said the world economic forum in Davos assessed gender equality in 93 percent of the world population, and the United States dropped from 23rd on the list in 2006 to 31st in 2007. So only 13 percent of Congress is female. Women make 77 cents for every dollar men make. I just think sexism is really alive in this world. And The New York Times had a wonderful piece in the magazine Sunday, by Peggy Orenstein, discussing this.

LESLEY: You know what’s really interesting to me? That this bubbles up at a time when Hillary Clinton won virtually half the primary votes, from lots and lots of white men, who essentially were saying they could see her as a commander-in-chief. She raised a whole lot of money; people said women would never be able to raise a whole lot of money. I mean, there is some kind of disconnect here.

LIZ: Yeah. Well, I think these discussions are too late to be of any use to her. But it all leads back to us being reminded that black men were given the right to vote in America 50 years before women received it. So nothing much has changed.

KATHLEEN: But it’s got to be possible in this kind of discussion to say that Hillary Clinton’s campaign was not the campaign that could have been waged on her behalf — there are failures in the campaign. There were failures in its assumptions about how to deal with the caucuses. One can’t say that Clinton’s candidacy faltered because of sexism; one can say that — gender and race out of the equation — tactically the Obama campaign ran a much better campaign. It figured out how to get the advantage of higher numbers of delegates in caucus states. It figured out how to go to those districts that had essentially more votes; more capacity to produce delegate strength. And it concentrated there, while the Clinton campaign was off in those areas — that had less capacity to generate the delegates — with the same amount of effort. And the Obama campaign figured out how to raise money. So, I think that sex and race are at play this year and I think that they are playing in ways that are both obvious and subtle. But, there are also all the other dynamics that come into play when campaigns do well and do poorly, regardless of race and gender.

To another point on this subject, the amount of sexism on the Internet is just appalling. And that young people will put their own names and their own identities up on space on the Internet, such as Facebook, attached to demeaning comments about women in general and Hillary Clinton in particular. And then when someone comes onto the site to object, that person will be subject to what we would call ad staminem rather than ad hominem. We should find attacks that are vulgar in the extreme disturbing, regardless of whether or not we are Hillary Clinton supporters.


LESLEY: So the idea that racism is a taboo, but sexism is fine, is alive and well on the Internet?

KATHLEEN: I believe that sexism is alive and well on the Internet. And the productive piece is that recently, after Tina Fey’s segment on "Saturday Night Live," a couple of groups have emerged to try to fight what they see as misogyny on the Internet and misogyny in mainstream broadcast.

LESLEY: And when you say on "Saturday Night Live," what misogynist —

KATHLEEN: Tina Fey. When Tina Fey went on with the segment that concludes that “bitch” is the new black, a site emerges on the web that basically plays out of that segment and produces commentary about it. And a second site emerges as well which basically takes on the concept that these sorts of attacks in broadcast and on the web, against Hillary Clinton but on misogynistic grounds, are inappropriate.

269 Reader Comments (so far…) Sign In or Register to comment

Star Lawrence
Hey—who you callin’ a bad elitist?
By Star Lawrence on 05/23/2008 10:55 am
cat  lord
We all are good individual elitist! Hillary is the smartest elitist! jocking jocking i am leaving town for week end see you!
By cat lord on 05/23/2008 7:21 pm
Deni G
I gotta tell ya Jack, that was just a stupid thing for her to say. How did anybody think African Americans would react to that statement? Obama got nailed for his supposed ‘elitist’ remark about people voting their ‘values’, because it hadn’t done them a bit of good to vote on their economic needs. Their was truth in what he said. But it was sensationalized and blasted everywhere as a slur. Even by Clinton. “Many of the left’s elitists” I daresay, you betray your actual agenda, with that line.
By Deni G on 05/24/2008 10:35 pm
T S
A funny thing came into my e-mail today and it made me laugh. I wanted to share it hoping it would add a bit of levity to this pretty serious subject and give an illustration of women’s savvy. Women Who Know Their Place Barbara Walters of Television’s 20/20 did a story on gender roles in Kabul, Afghanistan several years before the Afghan conflict. She noted that women customarily walked 5 paces behind their husbands. She recently returned to Kabul and observed that women still walk behind their husbands. From Ms. Walter’s vantage point, despite the overthrow of the oppressive Taliban regime, the women now seem to walk even further back behind their husbands and are happy to maintain the old custom. Ms. Walters approached one of the Afghani women and asked, ‘Why do you now seem happy with the old custom that you once tried so desperately to change?’ The woman looked Ms. Walters straight in the eyes, and without hesitation, said, ‘Land Mines.’ MORAL OF THE STORY: BEHIND EVERY MAN IS A SMART WOMAN.
By T S on 05/22/2008 4:36 pm
cat  lord
T S, Thank you! I love it! love it!
By cat lord on 05/22/2008 7:43 pm
mary lou s
when hillary says she is more electable, huffpo (huffingtonpost.com) says she is playing the race card. i await the remaining primaries and the superdelegate vote. when renata talked about the assination “alternative/option,” i was beside myself with anger and helplessness. is she so paranoid? but the whole huffpo is lit up about it.
By mary lou s on 05/22/2008 9:54 pm
Mugsy Peabody
No, Mary Lou, you are playing the race card by assuming that her reason for believing she is a better candidate is because of the racial issue. There are many many reasons Sen. Clinton believes she is the better candidate. That you have projected onto her what her motives are, when you have no earthly way to know what they are (other than going by what she says — oh, now THERE’S a concept), unless you know Sen. Clinton personally, and clearly you don’t.
By Mugsy Peabody on 05/22/2008 10:16 pm
Buh- Bye
Right on, Mugsy!
By Buh- Bye on 05/26/2008 5:21 pm
Kay Weeks
Hillary Clinton has the most specific programs and can speak clearly to explain them. Visionary she is not. I would rather have some concrete plans and, although I voted for Obama in the MD primary, have changed my mind. Alas—too late.
By Kay Weeks on 05/24/2008 12:11 am
PJ Thequilter
Obama drew a huge crowd in Portland OR because he hired The Decemberists to play a free concert. They are the most popular band for college students right now. They didn’t go to see him… they went to see their favorite band. I hate it when the Obamaites put out these ‘facts’ and nobody checks them. Easy reporting, I guess… don’t have to hire reporters! The Decemberists are named after a communist group that tried to overthrow Russian leaders in 1854 and their sets always begin with the playing of the Russian National anthem. Cool, huh?
By PJ Thequilter on 05/24/2008 1:21 am
cat  lord
PJ Thanks for more infos about that band!I am not surprised!Tocqueville had warned us about democracy in the futur times!
By cat lord on 05/24/2008 8:19 pm
Deni G
What warnings are you referencing?
By Deni G on 05/24/2008 10:17 pm
Deni G
Checking facts is always a good idea. Facts PJ: A Chicagoist review’s estimate was that 10,000 people attended a free Decemberists concert at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Chicago’s Millennium Park last year. It’s also worth noting that the Chicago Decemberists show in question also featured a symphony orchestra. If the Decemberists, who were not actually billed as the Decemberists for the Obama event, but as “special guest” performers Colin Meloy, Chris Funk, Jenny Conlee, Nate Query, and John Moen, really did draw 10,000 of those 75,000 people, that leaves 65,000 who came solely to see Obama speak. And that, of course, assumes Decemberists fans and Obama supporters are mutually exclusive peeps. The Russian Decemberist Revolt of 1825. Utilizing their influence in the army, in which many of them were officers and heroes of the Patriotic War of 1812, the Decemberists, started a mutiny in several units, with the aim to defend the rightful interests of Constantine against his usurping brother, Tsar Nicholas 1 . Although the rebellion had failed by nightfall, it meant that Nicholas I ascended the throne over the bodies of some of his subjects. Not even a little bit communist. And not over overthrowing Russian leaders. It was a fight over who held the succession rights to the throne. A footnote following the Decemberist band’s biography claims, ‘The Decemberists travel exclusively by Dr. Herring’s Brand Dirigible Balloons’. But I don’t expect you to appreciate their irony or humor.
By Deni G on 05/24/2008 9:29 pm
~ countrywoman ~
Hi Deni G Just so you know, your irony has definitely NOT gone unappreciated! I pulled up a reply box earlier and then got distracted. At the time I finally posted, I didn’t realize you had weighed in ahead of me….. should have left this one to your capable fingers! I am grateful for your presence here and always enjoy what you have to say. I have been waiting for the opportunity to ask if you would be inclined to share the method by which you insert the bold text into your posts? Meanwhile, keep posting, and be well. :-)
By ~ countrywoman ~ on 05/25/2008 12:17 am
~ countrywoman ~
reply to PJ Thequilter - 5/24/2008 1:21 AM Do we understand you correctly? Are you suggesting, as FACT, the idea that a group of local musicians could, in three days, draw 75,000 people to listen to a 45 minute set, and further, that huge crowd just stayed afterwards as a courtesy to Senator Obama, and NOT because they were there to hear him speak? Is it your assumption that we have anywhere near that many “college students” in the Portland area? What leads you to assert that the band was “hired?” Did you actually watch any local coverage of the event before you formed your opinion and posted it? The local media reported the story very accurately, even showed footage of the band as part of their coverage. Why do you believe Obama supporters would need to “hire reporters” when the actual FACTS of this amazing gathering speak so clearly for themselves? Of course, “Obamaites” accept that many will continue their efforts to spin gold into straw, but we still feel the need to question the practice.
By ~ countrywoman ~ on 05/24/2008 11:46 pm