I've written a great deal about how this historic election season has led to a number of political firsts, but I've never seen it expressed quite this way: in a recent column for Newsweek, Martin Linsky wrote, "This campaign will always be remembered for the emergence of the first serious woman candidate for president: Barack Obama." It's a loaded statement that got me thinking beyond Linsky's particular charge to a larger summation: that this political moment has by and large been the result of feminism.
Everyone knows that Clinton's rise -- from her law degree at Yale to her Senate seat -- would not have been possible without the groundwork laid by feminists. March is Women's History Month, and as we acknowledge her historic ascent, it does us good to remember the years of struggle that launched it: the suffrage movement of the early 20th century, the demands for equal pay and equal rights (sans amendment) of the second stage, and the spirited work of the third wave to ensure that the 21st century will be the time for parity. Indeed, the possibility we now have for a woman to command the highest office in our country rests on the labors of the women and supportive men that have come before, and on those who continue to toil for gender justice.
Yet Linsky's comment begs us to probe further -- for what is rarely acknowledged is what feminism has done for men. How else could we arrive at such a moment when the male democratic frontrunner for the presidency is likened to a woman -- and is celebrated for it? Feminism has not only made inroads for women into the worlds of business and politics; it has challenged long-standing assumptions regarding masculinity, significantly expanding the box in which men and boys experience and display their maleness.
More and more men are taking an active part in the raising of their children -- and loving it -- thanks to both the policy shifts and cultural shifts brought by feminism. Workplaces are more family-friendly, gender roles are more flexible, and even the most masculine of institutions -- the armed forces -- boasts beneficial changes because women have entered the ranks. These transformations are palpable and positive, and have led me to wish for a major ad campaign spanning television screens, radio waves, and the sides of buses nationwide depicting how greatly men have benefited from the women's movement. Its caveat would read: "This Opportunity Has Been Brought to You by Feminism."
Of course, these changes have been very good for Senator Obama. Feminism has made it possible for him to do what Clinton, and many other women leaders, feel that they can't: actually own those leadership traits that are seen as feminine (a claim which brain research has shown to exist). Feminism has made it possible for men to be more inclusive -- soft even -- without being diminished. On the contrary, men who add these traits to their manly ways are in great demand, from your house to the White House.
Our country certainly needs to incorporate feminine styles of leadership -- cowboy diplomacy has left us in quite the dire domestic and global state -- and so I applaud our nation's approval of Obama's feminine approach. Yet this endorsement is a product of hard-fought feminist fights, many of which are far from won. And so as we honor this new era that we find ourselves in, and as we celebrate Women's History Month, I hope that the disparate and unfair situation in which women leaders often find themselves in is acknowledged and rejected as well. I hope Obama's rise is accompanied by a new movement on the part of male leaders to ameliorate their leadership -- and that we can learn, as a nation, to truly accept women leading alongside them.
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However, to my mind, it is just as sexist to vote for a candidate on the grounds that she is a woman, as it is to not vote for her because she's a woman.
I worked the polls yesterday for Obama in Texas. I spoke with many women who said they were somewhat undecided but just felt they "needed to vote for the woman."
Would those women vote for her if she were a man? How about if her last name wasn't Clinton?
I'd vote for Obama if he were a woman. Or white, or Hispanic, or whatever. I like his leadership style, his ethics, his ideas, and his accomplishments. It has nothing to with his gender or race. Can the Clinton supporters say the same thing?
Most failures of marriage and treatment of women in America are the result of Men's failures towards their correct responsibilities. Men have failed their women in many areas; leaving women to survive the best way they can. Man's failures are compounded by Feminists exploiting this rage and condition.
The sorrow is that Feminism is now a movement of rage, anger, frustration, bitterness, instead of a movement of Love, support, healing, consolation. Feminism has forgotten to teach their Sons and Daughters responsibilites to their own gender. A man must be a MAN and accept his own role in the human equation. Women should demand that Men be a Man first and lover next. Feminism espouses that Men, due to their failures, are now no longer considered an important part of the human equation. A very sad outcome! We can be replaced by a vibrator (WITHOUT BATTERIES). How sad is this insight into God's creations!
Great love, great marriage, great success is the result of a Man and a Woman combined together in an NEW LIFE! Promotion of this concept is now forbidden in Feminism. Acceptance of Same Sex Love and gender contracts will subvert the Feminist movement; pushing it into the garbage bin of human relationships.
Women, Men have failed in many areas! It's up to you to insist that they return to responsibilities of MANHOOD! Love, true love, will return to enrich both genders. Like a good Mothers, teach with your best abilities, that your sons are to be Men! Hopefully you have a Man's help wherever possible!
I liked the article, but question the fact that women can't lead. Is that only in America? What about the other countries that have had successful leaders?
Unless you mean that a woman has to have a man leading her to be considered somewhat a leader.
I for one am glad that men have infiltrated women professions. Otherwise, the wages would be much lower than they are.
If this country isn't sexist, tell me why you still hear so many women in high positions receiving lower wages. Tell me why the media is so afraid of Hillary that they can only find fault with her? At least she has a record that can be reviewed.
Paraphrasing from Dr. E - problems cannot be solved by the same mindset that created them.
If Hillary gets the nomination I'll totally support her, but I think it would be hard for her to win, for so many reasons. I think the first female president will probably come from a younger generation, one that doesn't have to come to power the way Hillary did (the way she had to because of her generation), and one that doesn't feel she has to prove that she's "man enough" for the job.
Brought to you by the Feminist Movement
Does anyone doubt that, should she run against McCain she will move more to the right, and if elected be more of a hawk than Obama would be?
Clinton has subsequently issued a veiled threat to nuke Iran ("All options remain on the table"), and seems to think that threats and "toughness" will help get her elected. Bush, Cheney, Lieberman, Clinton... they all fantasize that an aggressive posture in the Middle East is the only approach, when such a policy has only proved to strengthen Iran, Hamas, and other like minded adversaries. Obama understands instead of another Iron Lady in the form of Hillary Clinton, a balance of geopolitical Yin and Yang will be needed to secure our future.
Confine your comments to what you can KNOW or can surmise from words spoken or written or that you can logically deduce from premises stated. Attributing your own telepathically derived preposterous conclusions to those you set up as opposing your own viewpoint is a mistake.
I guess black people dying in slavery, or hanging from trees had nothing to with shining a light on Americas duplicity about the struggles of minorities and women.
Geez. Just stop it please......
It's stating how much men have benefited from feminism, by a broadening of their horizons when it comes to the acceptance of different behavior from what was once accepted. Perhaps you need to have lived during the time when men were as boxed in as women were.
I agree with this 100%, and bemoan the fact that - ironically - Hillary exhibits NONE of those traits. In fact, Hillary's warmongering and other votes for authoritarianism constitute what some feminists used to call a consequence of excess testosterone.
I "reject and denounce" her candidacy on the basis of that aggressively testosterone-laden neo-con record.