Sign in to wowOwow

Enter the email address that you used when registering at wowOwow.
The password field is case sensitive. Click here if you have forgotten your password.

Please register for wowOwow

Newsletter subscriptions
Sign up to receive wowOwow's weekly newsletter and get our best picks delivered right to your inbox. Our newsletter content is hand-picked by the wowOwow editorial team and provides the top features, news, and commentary from our site. Subscribing to our newsletter is free and safe. We will never share your email or other information with a third-party without your direct consent.
By registering, you indicate that you have read and agree
with our privacy policy and terms of service.

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

Willow K
I’d like to see you say that after some serious job hunting. Women are still hired for less money, the thinking that men need more to support their families still holds. I know, this has happened to me, and I’ve heard men admit this bias in their hiring. One male manager I talked to still held onto his preconceptions that men needed higher salaries to support their families even after I told him I had three close female friends, all married, who were the main breadwinners of their family. I don’t think he could take in this information, would have shook his worldview way too much.
By Willow K on 05/21/2008 7:37 pm
bob mirabile
the women in my company work as hard get the same pay, face the same dangers and earn every dime of it . if they cant cut it they are gone just like the men . the women in engineering are a responsible lot who wont cave in or back down .. some are great in a crisis ,some are not . I went through a bitter divorce and the ex got away with creating a ‘life estate with her dad with my money’ I could have done the same thing if I had thought of it .. its not a sexism thing she was smarter than me … butnow she gets no help from me and is in trouble with a mysognyist ex cop bff lol
By bob mirabile on 05/22/2008 1:07 pm
Frannie Em
Bob Great Post.
By Frannie Em on 05/22/2008 9:09 pm
T S
Yikes! What kinda female folk you hanging out with, Dr. Klein?
By T S on 05/21/2008 10:05 am
Margo Porter
TS- Do you really believe female folk are hanging out with Dr Klein??
By Margo Porter on 05/21/2008 4:39 pm
K O
A young woman in a class I taught told me that she was attending “Security Analysis” not to learn to invest her money, but to look for a boyfriend. I looked at her and thought, “this is how the feminist’s kids rebel - they became Anita Bryant.” I recommended that she take notes, in case the boyfriend thing didn’t work out, and wondered what time warp I had been sucked into. Sigh. I’m one of those women who looks at Hillary and thinks about her working all her life for something, backing her husband, then going for her dream - then, a cute young guy with less experience comes along and gets her job. I’ll probably vote for him, but the part of me that feels for her wants to tell Dr Klein that he’ll never have the slightest clue how very wrong he is. And, no, I won’t give you a break. As soon as I feel better, I will, however, have a good laugh at your expense. Feel free to develop hostility toward me about that.
By K O on 05/21/2008 10:14 am
Katy O
Kitty - you just helped me realize why I’m having trouble warning up to Obama! In the 70s I was asked to spend my last week on a job in marketing training my replacement - a young man who had no training whatsoever in marketing. I quit before the end of the week - just after I learned my replacement was earning almost twice my salary. If he was that good, I thought, let him figure the job out for himself. Now, perhaps, as an older and wiser woman, I will be able to get over it, vote for him, and cheer Hillary on to her next accomplishment.
By Katy O on 05/21/2008 12:01 pm
Margo Porter
Hello Kitty OKeefe: Let’s just hope that the young girl in your class is not part of a trend. I have to ask because I find this very prevalent: If you feel as you do about Hillary, why would you probably vote for Obama? I hear this alot; as a woman of color I don’t feel the need to identify with either of them. But I am honestly curious about your statement. As for Dr Klein I guess if the laughter that he inspires has healing power for women (it probably does) then you’ll be better soon because he does provide many opportunities. Feel better soon.
By Margo Porter on 05/21/2008 5:03 pm
Peggy Sue
Being a baby boomer, I really thought we would be past this by now, but I believe sexism will never go away. A very close friend said to me that she would never hire a female attorney. Dismayed I asked why. She said that men get more respect in court and if I wanted to win I would need that edge. I do not like the response but I can understand her view. As much as I want Hillary to win, I really would like us to get down to the issues of how we are going to solve our problems then fight over gender, age or race.
By Peggy Sue on 05/21/2008 10:19 am
Dr. Mark Klein
T.S.—The ladies I hang with are top level role model Ur-feminists by day and a man’s woman by night! A highly educated, successful non pussywhipped unconstructed male is a chick magnet in these times.
By Dr. Mark Klein on 05/21/2008 11:15 am
K O
Yawn…………. Oh, I’m sorry. Are you still talking? I was just daydreaming about having a conversation with someone interesting.
By K O on 05/21/2008 11:27 am
Star Lawrence
I don’t know why I bother to address this Klein guy. He is such a good reminder of what we face as women, we should be grateful. Lest we get complacent. After all we can’t all be schizoids—ur-people by day and sex kittens at night (where pussy whipped came from, do you think?). There is something about intelligence that prevents this. And it sounds like a lot of work to keep the roles straight.
By Star Lawrence on 05/21/2008 12:35 pm
Margo Porter
You address him because “the more evolved the mind, the greater the need for play”. He’s a pass time. You don’t have to try very hard to understand the poor dear. It’s like having a very high IQ and reading the tabloids at the supermarket. If he knows women who are as intelligent as he claims and can pull off that “kitten with a whip” thing, he’s already been out thought, out manned and out gunned. He just doesn’t know it. Be kind…we’re all he’s got.
By Margo Porter on 05/21/2008 5:15 pm
Brooklyn Gal
Okay, I admit it. I googled the doc. Surprise, surprise. He once considered himself a presidential candidate but the Republicans weren’t buying it. Another good reason to google a doctor before getting an appointment.
By Brooklyn Gal on 05/21/2008 4:23 pm
Ms. Dee
Why do feel compelled to be so rude? What’s a Ur-feminist? I think you still have a lot to learn about human affection. Sometimes, there’s no attachment disorder involved at all. Frank Peterson? There’s a huge difference between a man in love and man who’s pussy-whipped. Am I right or wrong?
By Ms. Dee on 05/21/2008 11:29 am