Read this amazing article from WomensENews on why Hillary Clinton is SO VERY IMPORTAT TO WOMEN
Hillary Clinton made history when she became the first woman to get a presidential nomination by a major party. But the sexism she faced was astonishing. Her laugh was called a cackle, her cleavage was analyzed, protestors held up a banner reading “Iron my shirt!” and Republican buttons described her as a KFC special: “2 fat thighs, 2 small breasts . . . left wing.” She was called bitchy and labeled a man hater–the latter illustrated by nutcrackers featuring her thighs. Pictures of Hillary as the Wicked Witch of the West appeared all over the Web.
If you doubt this charge, simply go on YouTube to the video produced by the Women’s Media Center titled “Sexism sells–but we’re not buying it.” You’ll see the mainstream media in action.
This ugly stuff has discouraged young women from thinking about politics. They are running away as if from a tsunami. A major study shows that young men are twice as likely to have thought about running for office “many times,” while women are 20 percent more likely than men to have never even thought of it.
“Girls Just Wanna Not Run” looked at college students, 18 to 25 years of age, in the first major study of young American women and politics. Done at American University in 2010, it found, “There is a substantial and persistent gender gap in political ambition; men tend to have it, and women don’t,” according to researchers Jennifer Lawless and Richard L. Fox.
Young women’s resistance to politics is not a minor issue. Male dominance of politics is huge and growing. Across the United States, only 73 women hold statewide elected offices — less than a quarter of available positions. That percentage has been declining for 12 years, according to Center for American Women in Politics at Rutgers University in New Jersey.
And when women do run for office, they are older and run for lesser offices. Men are twice as likely as women to jump straight into high-profile races for a first-time run. Women are more inclined to see a local election as a necessary first step. An inexperienced male candidate will often choose a congressional seat for his first run; women are twice as likely to pick a local race, such as school board or local legislature.
The fear of “the despotism of the petticoat” has endured for a long time. There are millions and millions of women–and very many men–who would like to see it ripped to shreds. We haven’t come a long way, baby.
Maybe the time is now.
Author: Caryl Rivers is a professor of journalism at Boston University and the co-author, with Rosalind C. Barnett, of “The New Soft War on Women” (Tarcher/Penguin). [fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][Source www.womensenews.org, the best women’s news source!][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]