Yesterday as I was listening to Hillary Clinton's concession speech, I cried. I cried because of something she said...something that just rang so incredibly sad and untrue. Here is the quote:
"You can be so proud that, from now on, it will be unremarkable for a woman to win primary state victories, unremarkable to have a woman in a close race to be our nominee, unremarkable to think that a woman can be the President of the United States. And that is truly remarkable." Hillary Clinton's concession speech, June 7, 2008
I say that's a bunch of bullshit.
Elizabeth Dole's campaign was remarkable. Not because she was a supremely qualified candidate, but because she was a woman. So, I can't believe I'm saying this...in this respect, there is no difference between Elizabeth Dole and Hillary Clinton. Neither one of them got the nomination. We've been through this before.
I voted for a woman vice presidential candidate, Geraldine Ferraro, in my very first election in 1984, nearly 25 years ago. That was a remarkable race then. We're still talking about it. Hillary Clinton, if nominated for the vice presidency, would still be the second woman nominated. We've been here before.
It WILL still be remarkable when any woman runs for office. Women are more than half of the population, yet are less than 20% of our national assembly. Women's voices are essential to a civil and political discourse. The status of women in any given society directly correlates to levels of education, poverty and youth achievement.
But instead of talking about these important issues, here are the subjects that the media focused on this election cycle (regarding Hillary Clinton): Cleavage, Bill Clinton's affair and her reaction to it, her outfits, her pantsuits, whether of not she has had plastic surgery, what she eats, her physical appearance, her voice, rumors of Hillary lesbianism, Hillary hate merchandise... I could go on and on.
There are obviously differences between male and females in real life. There are some leadership style differences. But are men's leadership styles inherently better?
Thanks to Hillary for trying to encourage and inspire the next generation of women leaders. But that speech just reminded me how much work there is to do.
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