My grandmother is the only woman in my life who has followed politics and who is not afraid to state her opinion. In many ways she one of the most strong headed women I know. If it was not for her I would have thought growing up politics was simple just a "man thing". Whenever my grandfather left the room she would turn his Fox News television station off and say to me and my sister, "Never listen to this bullshit girls." Now that they have moved into their new house, she has banned Fox News from the living room all together. She said he can watch it downstairs or they can fight every night. Needless to say my grandfather now watches his Fox News downstairs. As my sister and I got older every time we visited my grandparents there was always some political debate going on between my them. My sister and I often found it funny and amusing to listen, even though most of what they were saying went right over our heads. My grandmother would always sigh as my grandfather marched out of the room, and she would say "Psh what do men know! Nothing, and yet they are the ones running everything, wooptie doo." For a long time I never understood what she meant by men running everything, but now I completely understand, shown to me by the lack of women in our government.
Bringing attention to this topic is Jessica Valenti in her chapter called Sex and the City Voters, My Ass. In Sex and the City Voters, My Ass she addresses the vast amount of men that hold spots in our national legislature compared to the few women who hold spots, and she forms her theory as to why the numbers are not changing to create a balance between men and women. To explain why many young women are not pursuing jobs in politics Valenti writes, "My own opinion is that young women especially are
steered away from all things political from such a young
age that by the time they get around to adulthood, they're
freaked out and intimidated by the process"(Valenti, 214). And this is very evident in our country. There is the nonprofit White House Project, which is dedicated to getting some interested in politics, but there is limited amount of programs or little to none classes in schools that are geared towards young women to spark interest in politics. There is also a lack of role models, as we discussed in class, for young girls and women to look up to and learn that women can have a job in politics and have a seat in congress. From my own personal experience, no women in my family pay attention to politics besides my grandmother, but most every man does. This made me think at a young age that politics are mostly for men, and not women. "There's also the fact that many young women don't feel
like politicians speak to them and the issues that matter to
them-we're talked about more than we're talked to,"(Valenti, 214). And this is because it is men who mainly make up our government. We need young women to see role models, and for there to be programs or classes to spark their interest instead of steering them away from politics. The more women who make their word heard, and the more women who pursue a job in politics are the only ways to make 51% of our population feel like they are being talked to instead of talked about. Women "issues" should not be "special issues" when women take up more than half of our country's population. And this is something my grandmother has felt all her life. She and my grandfather have never agreed in a single election, and this is usually because whoever candidates that my grandfather has liked, addressed women as people with "special issues". The need for women's involvement in politics that my grandmother has always hoped for, and that Valenti addresses in Sex and the City Voters, My Ass is shown in the alarming statistics in the short film Women in Political office.
In addition to these lopsided statistics Women in Political office brought up another important reason why women are not running for any seats of political power that relates to Valenti's reasoning, and it is when it comes to political networks and money, women are more limited than men are. What women need is support so they can will run in a race that has an open seat, but also in races against an incumbent. This support needs to be targeted at young women and girls as Valenti points out, so they will not be steered away by politics that freak or intimidate them.
On top of women being steered away from politics at a young age, women also face more ridicule and media coverage on their looks, behavior, and personal life when running for president, a seat in congress, or any political position. "While all women are subject to being judged by their appearance, women in leadership positions get it like crazy. . . But of course, it's not just appearance that women politicians are attacked for. It's their personalities. The most common insults? "Ballbuster," "bitch," and the like. Because clearly, all women who work in politics are "unfeminine" and annoying," (Valenti, 215, 217). Look at some well known women in politics such as Hillary Clinton or Sarah Palin. Both women have some different political views, but one thing they have in common is media coverage on their personalities and appearances. Valenti addresses how Hillary Clinton was referred to as a bitch, and unfeminine, which were seen as "good" by some critics because those are qualities that are "needed"for a woman in politics, because if you are nice and "pretty" you are too "soft" for politics, and cannot handle the job. Sarah Palin was often called "hot" or "dumb" and most stuff that came out of her mouth was discredited because of this view that was created by the media as not worthy of having any type of role in politics. This also relates to how women newscasters receive more attention on looks than their male counterparts as seen in the film Miss Representation, as well as more interest in their personal life. Katie Couric has had several media articles covering her love life, where there are no such articles for a male newscaster. This similar situation is seen among women in politics. Media will cover more of the men in politics's opinions and plans, but when it comes to women in politics, their outfit, hair, and personal life are all fair game to be covered.
Question: How can we change these stereotypes and targeted personal ridicule on women in political roles?
For one, our society needs to change and be more open to women in power seats. And our media corporations need to take them serious as well. Such as when Valenti wrote about how The New York Times covered a dinner that was to celebrate women in our government, and they put the coverage in the "Styles"section along with a graphic of a pink purse. If this dinner was to honor men in politics, would it have been ran in the "Styles" section with a pink purse? No, didn't think so. Our country needs to open up to the fact that women are people, and are more than half of our country's population, and that women's issues are not special issues. Our country prides itself on being a leading nation, but when it comes to women in national legislature, we come in 90th compared to other countries. It is time for our country to step out of our unbalanced, rigid patriarchal ways, and to take women in politics seriously, understand our nation would be better off, and to pride ourselves for being in the top 5 instead of 90th.
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