What young women believe about a woman president

The idea that we are ‘getting closer’ to a woman in the White House forces those of us who have written about women and the U.S. presidency to consider the obstacles that may face   women as presidential candidates.   Why haven’t more seemingly qualified women candidates run for President of the United States?  It would seem that in a world without gender bias, more women would be top contenders for the presidency.    The question of whether or not young women believe that a woman will be president is a pertinent one.  Presumably it is the college educated women who will seek elected office and one of them will ascend to the Oval Office.  For years, scholars of women and leadership have contended that the mere presence of women leaders will create a more positive environment for future leaders.  “Seeing a group of women in leadership roles helps remove a psychological barrier for both women and men,” said Council of Women World Leaders Secretary General Laura Liswood. 

Research on the prospects of a woman president often considers the leadership potential of young women and girls.   The reasoning is that if future leaders believe that they could be successful, more girls will grow into women who will enter elections and the more women who run, the more women will win.  For example, the program Take our Daughters to Work and the leadership conferences and institutes springing up for girls as young as age seven are evidence that training girls and young women early to think of themselves as leaders may increase their chances of becoming leaders later. For example, The Girls Leadership Institute in Pittsfield Massachusetts, “inspires girls to be true to themselves,” and offers “the skills and confidence to live as leaders.”  And at Women’s Media Center, girls’ voices have been added to the conversation about women in the media in several ways, such as a multimedia series called Girls Investigate: Our Views on Media that explores girls’ ideas about popular culture, social media and the intersections between the two.

I was reminded of the idea of sparking the interest in future women leaders early last year when a young college woman who read one of my books came to my home to interview me for a school project. We spoke about the obstacles that women broadcasters and politicians have faced over the years.  She was bright and pleasant and demonstrated sophisticated thinking about the topics.   When she turned to leave she said, shaking her head:  “It’s interesting to read about these women, but I just don’t believe that we will have a woman president in my lifetime.”  I was taken aback by her pessimism. She is after all, the future.

It made me wonder if other young women held the same negative view about women in politics. To that end, the poll “Believing or Not Believing in Madam President” surveys college women to learn whether or not they were encouraged by the presidential and vice presidential bids of Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin to believe that a woman would be president in their lifetime. With this thinking in mind a survey was conducted in light of the prominent role of women in the 2008 presidential election.   College age women were asked to reflect on their belief that a woman would become President of the United States based on the presidential bid of Hillary Clinton and the Vice Presidential bid of Sarah Palin.

            “Believing or Not Believing in Madam President Poll” has been administered to  college women, age 18-25 and after a little over 400 surveys have been returned, there is evidence to show that more young women were encouraged by the presidential race of Hillary Clinton than by the vice-presidential bid of Sarah Palin and that the effort of both women were more encouraging than discouraging to their belief in a future woman president.    The poll asks women to reflect about whether or not the campaigns of these national female politicians made them believe that there would be a woman president in her lifetime.

Out of 402 surveys, 230 women said “yes” that the presidential bid of Hillary Clinton encouraged her to believe that a woman would be president in her lifetime.   Eighty were encouraged by the vice-presidential bid of Sarah Palin while forty-two respondents were not encouraged by either woman and fifty women thought that both women’s efforts turned them into believers.

Some comments about Hillary Clinton from respondents include:  “She was one of the first women who looked like she could win” and “She made me believe that a woman will be a strong candidate.”  Another respondent said, “I knew she wouldn’t win.”  As for Palin, students wrote:  “She made women sound stupid” and “The media focused too much on her personal life and not enough on her politics.”  Another respondent said Palin made her a believer in a woman president in her lifetime because “As soon as Obama won many people were already campaigning for Palin in 2012.”  Some respondents were encouraged by both Clinton and Palin.  One wrote:  “Both Clinton and Palin are evidence that women are beginning to climb the ladder in education, work and politics.  It is still a struggle, for many reasons, but it is much better than it was.” 

            This poll indicates that young women have noticed the efforts of Clinton and Palin and for the most part more young women are encouraged by their efforts than turned off by them.

Hillary Clinton made a believer out of more young women (preliminary poll shows)

I’ve conducted my “Believing or Not Believing” in Madam President poll to college women, age 18-25 and after a little over 100 surveys have been returned, there is evidence to show that more young women were encouraged by the presidential race of Hillary Clinton than by the vice-presidential bid of Sarah Palin.  The poll asks women to reflect about whether or not the campaigns of these national female politicians made them believe that there would be a woman president in her lifetime.

Out of 102 surveys, sixty-two said “yes” that the presidential bid of Hillary Clinton encouraged her to believe that a woman would be president in her lifetime.  Only twenty-four were encouraged by the vice-presidential bid of Sarah Palin.  Still some respondents were not encouraged by either woman and a handful thought that both women’s efforts turned them into believers.

These are early results that come mostly from Penn State Lehigh Valley classes.  After the survey is distributed in other areas (Cal State Chico, Stonehill, SUNY, PSU University Park) I plan to publish the results.  Some comments about Hillary Clinton from respondents include:  “She was one of the first women who looked like she could win” and “She made me believe that a woman will be a strong candidate.”  Another respondent said, “I knew she wouldn’t win.”  As for Palin, students wrote:  “She made women sound stupid” and “The media focused too much on her personal life and not enough on her politics.”  Another respondent said Palin made her a believer in a woman president in her lifetime because “As soon as Obama won many people were already campaigning for Palin in 2012.”

So, here’s a sneak peek tease about the results.  Stay tuned!

We discovered women politicians are not monolithic. This is very good.

When Sarah Palin was introduced to the American people as the running mate of John McCain I had several friends say, “Wow!  You must be thrilled!”  As a scholar, of course.  More women, more writing about women.  What surprised me is that some people thought that I would vote for any woman.  Just because she is a well, a woman.   This most recent primary was very positive for women politicians in general and Republican women specifically.  But again, surprisingly, some women spoke out about how these particular pro-choice women are not helping to showcase women or feminism as it should be.  This article in the New York Times points to some of those tensions. 

As someone who has been studying Republican and Democratic women politicians for over a decade, I can say that this recent wave of  women winning primaries  is very good for reaching the critical mass of women politicians  that Witt, Paget and Matthews wrote about in 1995 in their important book Running as a Woman:  Gender and Power in American Politics.

Today 17% of women are senators.  I’m not so caught up in what women are winning.  I’m caught up in that they won.

From Novelty to Reality: why is this so complicated?

On my most recent of many trips to the enormously wonderful Newseum in Washington, D.C., I spied this shirt in one of the gift shops. 

I want one, of course, but the biggest one is a girls size 10 and even if it would fit my daughter, she wouldn’t be caught dead in it, even though she is running for class president of her high school.    Is this tee-shirt  charming or a silly reminder that we are still “pretending” women can be president?  I still want the tee shirt, but seeing it hanging in the gift shop as a souvenir begs the question:   will we move from cute little token for little girls  to reality?  I don’t want my daughter to play “dress up” president.  I want her to really think she could be president. 

I’m working on a new book project, one that identifies women who could be president by virtue of their wealth, fame and political power. Though rhetorical style is a focus of the book, bad public speaking seems to have kept no one — male or female–out of the political fray.  Did you catch Harry Reid mocking Sarah Palin?  Neither one will go down in history for their eloquence.    This new project has me thinking  a lot about the question Dr. Ted Sheckels of Randolph Macon College posed to me at the National Communication Association Conference in November:  why don’t more women run?

This being Census season, I thought about the numbers:  According to the 2000 Census there are 137,916,186 men and  143,505,720 women in the United States and  more women than men vote.   Obviously women don’t just vote for women candidates, but it begs the question why more women aren’t able to be voted for, simply because there are more of them. 

I remember when I interviewed former Colorado congresswoman and 1988 presidential candidate Pat Schroeder she told me:  “the girls in my office just don’t want to get into the huddle.”  Is that it?  Only on a larger scale?  I mean, if you say to a man:  “you could be President” does he immediately go out and form an exploratory committee while most women respond if not vocally, internally, “who, me?”  Maybe women need more Presidential atty-tood?   Other possible reasons I’m sorting through include:  harsher media treatment than the men get; lack of role models–yes Hillary Clinton “almost won” but do women running for office see her as an outlier?  Do they silently think:  “I’m no Hillary Clinton?”  So much to think about.

 All around the world, but not in the United States. Why not Madam President?  I don’t know about you, but want more than just the novelty tee shirt.

Fox News Sly Move for Sarah Palin

She was  a small town mayor, a hockey mom with a large brood who took the Alaskan political scene by storm to become the youngest and first female governor of a state known for  its rugged frontier and Native heritage.  Her inaugural rhetoric invoked a distinctive Alaskan style when she paid tribute to the first woman to win the Iditarod, Libby Riddles.  She said:  “She was a risk-taker, an outsider.  She was bold and tough.  Libby, you shattered the ice ceiling.  Thank you for plowing the way.”   

When John McCain named her as his running mate in  August  2008, news commentators were unsure of the pronunciation of her name:  was is Puh-lin or Pay-lin?  Little was known about her except what the 24/7 news cycle was putting forward in a continuous loop:  a former beauty-queen; a moose-hunter;   mother of five.  When I wrote Paving the Way for Madam President in 2006, a book that chronicles the lives of five women who ran for president, I spent a considerable part of the last chapter positing what women were in the pipeline to emerge as national figures.  At the time—four short years ago—Sarah Palin was still mayor of Wasilla.  Her name appears nowhere in a book about women and the United States presidency.

Recently, Fox News announced that Sarah Palin will become a commentator. 

While quitting the governorship was a bad political move for anyone who wants to be president, Sarah Palin may make up some of that damage with her new national presence.  What she lacked in interpersonal agility as a vice-presidential candidate, she may quickly learn to overcome with the media exposure (and training) she’ll get on Fox.  What detractors may be reluctant to admit is that Sarah Palin’s new national television opportunity may be just the preparation she needs to shed her distinctly Alaskan style for one that will play as well in Kalamazoo as it will in Ketchikan.   Those of us who understand the power of media exposure realize that Sarah Palin’s new television gig may just turn caricature Sarah into presidential candidate Sarah. Stay tuned.

Nichola D. Gutgold is associate professor of communication arts and sciences at Penn State Lehigh Valley and author of Almost Madam President:  Why Hillary Clinton ‘won’ in 2008 (Lexington Books, 2009).