{"id":28178,"date":"2016-02-01T05:00:42","date_gmt":"2016-02-01T09:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/?p=28178"},"modified":"2016-01-31T18:19:33","modified_gmt":"2016-01-31T22:19:33","slug":"why-hillary-clintons-gender-matters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2016\/02\/why-hillary-clintons-gender-matters.html","title":{"rendered":"Why Hillary Clinton’s Gender Matters"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

As the Democratic Party\u2019s presidential primary between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders heats up, I\u2019ve noticed an increasing tendency among some to argue that Clinton\u2019s gender should be irrelevant to the decisions people make at the polls\u2014or even that any consideration of Clinton\u2019s gender at all is anti-feminist. I couldn\u2019t disagree with this assessment more strongly.<\/p>\n

Let me be clear: I am not telling you that you should vote for Clinton. I am not even telling you that I<\/em> am voting for Clinton. I am simply getting tired of people saying that Clinton\u2019s gender shouldn\u2019t matter, because it does<\/em>.<\/p>\n

We often mention\u00a0the fact that only 19.4% of members of Congress are women as evidence that we still have a long ways to go to achieve full gender equality. We do this not only because barriers to women\u2019s electability reflect larger barriers\u00a0to women\u2019s equality but also because representation matters. It matters who represents us and who makes policy. As an example, do we all remember this moment<\/a>?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Back in 2012, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform put together a panel to discuss the birth control mandate, which\u00a0requires insurance companies to cover birth control. When images of this panel revealed that it included not a single woman, people\u00a0were enraged. Why? Because representation matters. Because a woman\u2019s perspective on an issue will be different from a man\u2019s perspective even if they share the same principles<\/em>. Why? Because our actions and our positions are informed by our different experiences\u2014and that matters<\/em>.<\/p>\n

This is why Obama could respond to the shooting of Trayvon Martin like this<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I had a son, he\u2019d look like Trayvon.\u00a0When I think about this boy, I think about my own kids.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

A white president could have expressed outrage, but it wouldn\u2019t have been the same.<\/p>\n

Now let me explain what this does not<\/em> mean. It does not mean that if you are a woman you should always vote for the woman, or that a woman will always best represent your interests. By no means<\/em>. Representation matters, but issues matter too\u2014a lot<\/em>. Michelle Bachman and Sarah Palin offer a case in point. They are both women, but I would never vote\u00a0for either of them because they hold very<\/em> different positions on most\u00a0issues. In a very important sense, issues matter more<\/em> than representation.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

But let me ask you this\u2014if the birth control\u00a0panel above\u00a0had been\u00a0comprised\u00a0of six progressive<\/em> men, would we still have been\u00a0upset? Yes<\/em>. Why? Because issues are not the only<\/em> thing that matters. Representation matters too. This\u00a0is why I\u2019m bothered when I hear people say Clinton\u2019s gender shouldn\u2019t play any role in voters\u2019 decisions. It should<\/em>. It shouldn\u2019t be the only factor considered by any means, or the\u00a0most important factor, but it should be a<\/em> factor, and it\u2019s not anti-feminist to say that.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a second way representation matters, too.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Do you see that little boy? He wanted to touch President Obama\u2019s head to see if the president\u2019s hair felt the same way his hair does. When children see someone who looks like them in positions of power and influence, it sends them messages about what they can achieve. White boys grow up with a panoply of white male presidents reminding them that white males can succeed. Obama\u2019s presidency mattered because it showed millions of black kids that there are\u00a0chinks in this longstanding white male dominance. A Clinton presidency would show girls the same thing.<\/p>\n

Consider that my six-year-old daughter, Sally, has never known a white presidency. She has spent her entire life under a black president. It\u2019s what she knows, and what seems normal to her. The same is true for millions of kids across the country, and that matters<\/em>. Consider, for a moment, that a Clinton presidency\u00a0could mean my daughter would be halfway through high school before experiencing a white male presidency. After 43 white male presidents in a row, that would be\u00a0nothing short of incredible.<\/p>\n

We know that representation shapes children\u2019s perceptions of what they achieve. It\u2019s the reason we work to present girls with role models in business and in STEM fields. It\u2019s the reason we ask for movies with female leads. Having a female president would shape girls\u2019 perceptions of what they can be, and how high they can reach. It would tell them that even the highest echelons of power are open to them, if they are willing to reach. It wouldn\u2019t make getting there easy, by any means, but it would put it within the realm of what they consider possible<\/em>.<\/p>\n

All else being equal, I will vote for the female candidate over the male candidate, because\u00a0gender matters. Representation is\u00a0not irrelevant, it\u2019s critically important. In fact, all else being slightly unequal, I would probably still vote for the female candidate because gender is a factor I would weigh when making my decision. That means, yes, that I would vote for a slightly less qualified female candidate over a slightly more qualified male candidate, and potentially even for a female candidate I disagree with slightly over a male candidate I agree\u00a0with entirely.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve heard people claim that it\u2019s racist or sexist to factor in\u00a0a candidate\u2019s race or gender when making decisions about who to vote for\u2014i.e., that voting for a candidate because they are\u00a0black or a woman is just as racist or sexist as voting against a candidate because they are black or a woman. Such arguments ignore the importance of what I\u2019ve discussed above\u2014that representation matters.<\/em>\u00a0Voting for a candidate\u00a0solely<\/em> because they are black or a woman (or both)\u00a0would be a problem, of course,\u00a0because it would seem to assume\u00a0that these groups hold\u00a0monolithic views when we know they don\u2019t. Remember, issues do matter!\u00a0But there is nothing wrong with factoring representation into our electoral decisions\u2014indeed, I would argue that it\u2019s something we should<\/em>\u00a0be doing.<\/p>\n

This is not to say that you should vote for Clinton, or even that I will. I\u2019ve heard from friends all over the map on this issue, and if my readers are\u00a0at all similar to my friend base I know that many of you\u00a0see Clinton as a corporate sellout and feel that the straight-talk\u00a0Sanders offers outweighs the gains in representation we would gain\u00a0under a Clinton presidency.\u00a0That\u2019s fine<\/em>. It\u00a0is\u00a0not anti-feminist to vote for Sanders. Others among you may see the balances tipping in Clinton\u2019s direction. That\u2019s fine too<\/em>.<\/p>\n

My goal here is not to throw the oar in on one side or the other, but simply to note that Clinton\u2019s gender is not irrelevant. It matters, and is a factor that should be included in\u00a0voters\u2019\u00a0decision-making. And you know what? It\u2019s not anti-feminist to say that.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As the Democratic Party’s presidential primary between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders heats up, I’ve noticed an increasing tendency among some to argue that Clinton’s gender should be irrelevant to the decisions people make at the polls—or even that any consideration of Clinton’s gender at all is anti-feminist. I couldn’t disagree with this assessment more strongly. Let me be clear: I am not telling you that you should vote for Clinton. I am not even telling you that I am voting for Clinton. I am simply getting tired of people saying that Clinton’s gender shouldn’t matter, because it does.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":845,"featured_media":28201,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,11],"tags":[577,576],"class_list":["post-28178","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-feminism","category-politics","tag-bernie-sanders","tag-hillary-clinton"],"yoast_head":"\nWhy Hillary Clinton's Gender Matters<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"As the Democratic Party's presidential primary between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders heats up, I've noticed an increasing tendency among some to argue that Clinton's gender should be irrelevant to the decisions people make at the polls---or even that any consideration of Clinton's gender at all is anti-feminist. I couldn't disagree with this assessment more strongly. 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