Can a woman be president?
This tired, counterproductive and infuriating question was back in the news this week. It was like one of those climate-change-infused hurricanes that blows into town and stays for days, dumping rain bombs.
It began Monday. CNN reported that at a private meeting in 2018, Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-Vt.) told Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) that he did not believe a woman could win the presidential election.
There was little context in the report. It was at first confirmed by four unnamed sources. Maybe it was BS? Sanders issued a denial.
Later on Monday, however, Warren confirmed the story. "I thought a woman could win; he disagreed," she said in a statement.
Now, it’s very possible Sanders simply doesn’t remember. Offhand remarks aren't always memorable to the people who toss them out.
It's also kind of easy to understand why Warren hasn't forgotten. We know she’s been told before that a woman can’t do certain things. Like when she was fired for being pregnant, for example. Those things are hard to just blow off.
When a woman is told she can’t do something because of her sex, she REMEMBERS, a source told me yesterday.
So true. A few years ago, a colleague I respected and trusted told me I shouldn’t go for a management job because I’m a mother.
I’m pretty sure he meant well and was looking out for my well-being. Maybe he was concerned about the toll the extra hours would take on my life. But I’d been a working mother for years at that point, some of them as a manager. I doubt he’d have said the same thing to a father. And, he truly knew almost nothing about how I balance my personal life.
Giving women advice about what they can’t do “for their own good” is the kind of benevolent sexism that can blow over your head in the moment.
At the time, I thought hard about what my colleague said. Maybe it really wasn’t a good time to be a manager with two elementary-school kids at home? Then, I thought some more. I realized, oh, he was just being sexist — unconciously, perhaps. Maybe it was benevolent or just straight-up malevolent way.
I still think about this incident.
Anyway, without context it’s unclear what Sanders could’ve meant — perhaps he said that he didn’t think voters would go for a woman? Or maybe he was trying to be “nice” to Warren by cautioning her about the political climate? Maybe he saw what happened to Hillary Clinton in 2016 and was freaked out.
The situation didn’t end with his denial and her confirmation, however.
There was a Democratic debate on Tuesday night. I believe it was approximately the 1 billionth debate of this cycle. Of course, Warren and Sanders were asked to respond.
Warren didn’t give any more details and instead pivoted to a great argument for why women can win.
Sanders again denied saying anything. He launched into a thing about how, of course, he believes a woman can be president.
I thought the story would, maybe, die out there.
Readers, it didn’t. After the debate, Sanders tried to shake Warren’s hand.
She wasn’t having it and they had a tense exchange.
Click here to read the back-and-forth.
Bottom line thoughts from me:
Simply putting the question of a woman’s electability into the news cycle hurts women.
At this point, “Can a woman win?” really shouldn’t be a question
Yes, we've never had a female president.
But the 2018 midterms showed the country that women were actually quite damn electable. Women powered those elections.
Finally, HIllary showed the country a woman could get more votes than a man nationwide.
Yes, not all Americans like women. Yes, sexism is rampant. But that doesn’t mean we need to litigate this question. Let’s talk specifics. Which woman are we even talking about? What are her ideas? Her experience?
Soon enough, Warren's going to be the only woman left standing in this race. Let's not treat "her" as some token. This race is too important.
| 
0 comments:
Post a Comment