The Fear of the Feminine Leader

Let’s imagine this.

It’s 1998. A scandal breaks during the Clinton presidency. Hillary Clinton’s presidency. Let’s imagine that there was a switch in time and space and Hillary was our president at that time. Let’s also imagine that the biggest political sex scandal was still happening, but instead, Hillary Clinton was the one who was revealed to be having an affair with someone else. Exact same story, but with switched genders. How would the narrative change?

Before the first presidential debate, the news revealed that Trump had invited one of the “mistresses”of Bill Clinton to the debate. Trump suggested in a tweet posted on September 24th that he would invite Gennifer Flowers to the debate, in response to Clinton inviting Mark Cuban, a critic of Trump.

Over the summer, while part of an independent study where I helped create a content analysis of the New York Times coverage of the 2016 campaign. During this time, just a couple months ago, I was convinced that the gender bias in politics has severely gone down. After researching, I came to my own conclusion that Hillary is probably having a way easier time running for president now than she was in 2008. I realize now, after the first presidential debate, that not a lot has changed. A lot of it hasn’t been shown in the mainstream media constantly but Hillary Clinton still judged in different ways than her male counterparts.

Despite what you think of Hillary Clinton, her views, her policy, her political past, all of it, the gender bias she has experienced is a very real conversation we need to have. It’s a real thing we need to address — not just for Hillary, but for all women and the future of our leadership in government. Because whether she’s to liberal for you or not liberal enough for someone else, she is a living breathing example of a woman who is getting dangerously close to the Oval Office and you have to admit, it’s going to be interesting (and painful) to watch. Because every time Hillary gets undermined in any way that relates back to her gender, that’s painting a clear picture of how a woman is going to be treated if she ever runs for president again. There should be higher standards in the day and age we are living in.

I know a lot of people are saying Hillary Clinton will send a good message to women if she becomes president. For me, that’s honestly up for debate because there’s been a lot of politicians before her that can send the same message. However, what sends a more powerful message is the media’s and the general public’s response to a woman being president. This hostile and demonizing response is shattering young women’s self esteems everywhere, including mine, honestly. Because it seems that no matter what Hillary Clinton does, she is always criticized for something that directly connects to her being a woman.

The main example I’m going to use is recent debates we’ve seen, because it’s the most recent political communication we’ve engaged with Clinton. In the first debate, Donald Trump had a very dominating personality throughout the debate. He was aggressive, loud and didn’t even show a smolder once throughout the 90 minutes he was on screen. Meanwhile, Clinton used another strategy, where she tried her best to have a sense of humor about everything her opponent was saying. Throughout the debate, Hillary Clinton smiled. She smiled through the pain. However, media anchors and male pundits had a problem about this. Many were saying that now, the presidential nominee was smiling “too much.”

The irony is almost too great. These are exactly the kind of people that were scolding Hillary throughout this campaign and others that she isn’t smiling enough. How is a woman supposed to win?

And this whole scenario really puts things in perspective. Because in today’s reality , Hillary Clinton being president is no longer a complete hypothetical situation. It’s realistic and completely possible thing that can happen. And seems like for a lot of people, that’s a very scary thing. Even though throughout the years, the media’s and public’s sexist perspectives of Clinton has gotten less vulgar and outspoken, they’re still there. Whether it’s in arguments between CNN pundits, or your uncle’s Facebook status, there is still a great backlash towards the idea of a woman being president of the United States. This can even be seen through the brutally sexist criticisms coming from people who don’t agree with her. It’s one thing for a candidate to be criticized for their policy plans, or even their past mistakes, but people at Trump rallies wearing shirts like “Trump that Bitch” or “Hillary sucks, but not like Monica,” then those are just blatant examples of people using her gender as a insult.

However, this is not just about Hillary Clinton, and it’s important to not just hone in on just her. But she is the one being talked about, she’s the one in the spotlight, and she is a reflection of the struggle so many women in politics are experiencing. Women have dealt with this biased coverage for a while. In 2008 — Sarah Palin was running as John McCain’s running mate and it seems like the number one conversation the media was having was about her legs. Additionally, political pundits were questioning her ability to lead in relation the fact that she was a grandmother of 5. In this most recent Republican primary, Carly Fiorinia experienced a great deal of bias as well, including a reporter at a press conference commenting on how he “never imagined a president with pink nails.”

This isn’t about political ideologies or parties. This is about the bias and double standards that all women face when they’re running for any kind of office. Women are held to a much different and much more difficult and complicated standard than men are when trying to attain powerful positions. The main reason for this, is our distorted view of what a leader in our country is supposed to look like.

Whether you support her or not, Hillary Clinton has reached a milestone. She has successfully reached the highest test for the highest political position in the country, and I don’t know about you all, but I’m sitting on the edge of my seat just because of that reason alone.This article was written back in September of 2016.