Hillary Rodham Clinton: Radical Feminist

Many people are discussing the gender implications of the 2016 presidential Democratic primary since it started. Democrats wondered which candidate is better for women’s rights? They asked if wanting a female president a good reason to vote for Hillary? Some wondered if Bernie Sanders is sexist? Is the media sexist?

I have opinions about all of these questions, but I also think these are questions that reasonable people can disagree on. However, one thing I am tired of hearing is people (especially men) tell me Hillary is either not a feminist or is only a “white feminist.” (I promise to discuss the difference between “white feminism” and intersectional feminism in a bit.) Hillary Rodham Clinton is not only a feminist, but she is a radical feminist who has challenged the patriarchal establishment and status quo since her time as a college student at Wellesley.

I’m an academic so I care about historical feminism. Many consider Mary Wollstonecraft to be the founding mother of feminism. She published A Vindication of the Rights of Woman in 1792. Wollstonecraft was a radical, and unfortunately over 200 years later feminism is still a radical notion. I applaud anyone (man or woman) who wants to call themselves a feminist, and I have no interest in a purity test to try and prove who is a real feminist and who is not. Feminism has come under attack for exclusivity, hence the term “white feminism.” Unfortunately, many feminists in the past have fallen into the trap of thinking their white, middle class, and often straight experiences of being women are universal experiences. Although harmful to feminism’s goals, this tunnel vision is not unique to feminism but is something many revolutionary groups must contend with. Luckily, feminism has made a serious effort to be more inclusive and incorporate the experiences of many different kinds of people and their oppression into the discussions that built the movement. This form of feminism is described as “intersectional feminism” and aims at the inclusion of people of different races, wealth levels, sexualities, and even gender identifications who are hurt by patriarchy.

Hillary Clinton is a feminist by any definition of the movement, and her concerns have often revolved around women and children. Clinton began fighting for women and children while in law school when she met Marian Wright Edelman. In 1972 Hillary went undercover to investigate segregation in education in the south. She also worked on child abuse cases while at Yale and completed a post-graduate year at the Yale Child Study Center. It took two more years for Bill to convince Hillary to move to Arkansas and marry him. After Bill was elected Attorney General the couple moved to Little Rock and Hillary began her work at the Rose Law Firm. While her focus there was on intellectual property law she continued to perform pro bono legal work in child advocacy cases. In 1977 Hillary cofounded the Arkansas Advocates for Children and Family, became the first female chair of the Legal Services Corporation, and later became the first female partner of Rose Law Firm. During this time until Bill entered the White House Hillary had a higher salary than her husband. It was also during this time that Hillary began being known as Hillary Rodham Clinton, adding her husband’s name to help his career.

During Bill’s presidential campaign Hillary was often criticized for being too feminist and left. She made comments that she could have stayed home and baked cookies but instead chose to have her own political career. People also didn’t like that she included her maiden name and didn’t use the name Hillary Clinton. Conservative attacks began and referred to Hillary as “Lady Macbeth” for her active political role. When Hillary became First Lady she was the first woman to hold that position to have a postgraduate degree and her own professional career before her husband took office. Hillary was the first First Lady to have an office in the West Wing and was often criticized for taking such an active role in policy discussions. Hillary was also criticized for her clothes, her hair, and again for her choice in last name.

I have emphasized Hillary’s work on behalf of children as part of her feminism because family law and children’s rights tends to be the purview of women and feminists. As First Lady, Hillary continued to work on behalf of these same priorities. While her initiative did not succeed, Hillary’s focus on healthcare when compared to her husband’s focus on NAFTA shows her caring about women. Increased health care options is a feminist issue because women often are dependent on their husband’s health insurance or have part time jobs while raising children that don’t offer benefits. Because of the persistent vitriolic criticism of her healthcare plan, Hillary had to wear a bulletproof vest while attending rallies in 1994. Despite her initial failure on this issue, with the help of Ted Kennedy and Orrin Hatch, the State Children’s Health Insurance Program was passed in 1997.

Hillary also helped to create the Office on Violence Against Women at the DOJ. She was also instrumental in a lot of legislation aimed to help women and children such as the Adoption and Safe Families Act and the Foster Care Independence Act.

Hillary’s most feminist act as First Lady was her 1995 UN speech in Beijing. Defying pressure both from the Clinton administration and from China to modify her remarks, Hillary gave a landmark civil rights speech in which she declared “Women’s rights are human rights.” Delegates from over 180 countries heard her say: “If there is one message that echoes forth from this conference, let it be that human rights are women’s rights and women’s rights are human rights, once and for all.” This speech was no small achievement. Hillary stood up to the rest of the world and radically challenged the status quo of the treatment of women in the world community. Hillary Rodham Clinton has always brought women’s rights and the oppression front and center.

Hillary was elected as the first female senator from New York in 2000. While she continued to work for women’s rights as senator, it is her legacy as Secretary of State that truly shows her feminist priorities. Hillary made women’s oppression worldwide a State Department priority. She also worked to protect LGBT rights. Hillary’s emails show that she pressured Obama to change his policy towards Uganda in response to its anti-gay laws. Hillary also changed the policy of gender identification on passports to allow transgender people to change their gender without getting surgery. Since many states have more regressive policies, correct passport identification allowed people to have official documentation for their correct gender. Some have argued that Hillary’s more interventionist foreign policies are anti-feminist, but does this mean to be a feminist one must be a pacifist? What if the intervention under discussion was the Rwandan genocide, an action that might preserve the lives of women and children and of men too.

Hillary’s current presidential campaign is the most feminist political campaign in history. Because of pressure from the followers of her opponents, it has become a feminist statement just to support her, especially when her critics accuse her supporters of being swayed by shared gender. According to this logic, women can only be informed voters if we choose Bernie Sanders. Many of his supporters behave as if female Hillary supporters need the meanings of both feminism and gender equality explained to us by men.

These behaviors are particularly disheartening to me because I see feminist language being used against Hillary supporters. We are told we’re voting with our vaginas and being “white feminists” or anti-feminists while we support the first major female candidate for president, even though she is overwhelmingly supported by feminists and women of color.

Hillary’s platform prioritizes women and children. She is the only candidate who regularly mentions fighting for Planned Parenthood and was the first candidate to call for overturning the Hyde and Helms Amendments (amendments that disallow federal funds to be used for abortion both domestically and for international aid). Hillary partnered with the Mothers of the Movement and spoke about gun violence as a woman’s issue. Hillary challenges the patriarchy by continually discussing her gender and introducing notions of sexism.

Drawing our attention to the historic nature of her candidacy, and to the sexism she receives, is a radical approach on Hillary’s part. Hillary cracked many glass ceilings in her life and, unfortunately, being the first to do something requires compromises and playing the game. It has also made Hillary a lighting rod for sexist and republican smears. To navigate the minefield of the sexist environment that surrounded her, Clinton has sometimes played things too safe and made mistakes. Although her understandable accommodation to the surrounding sexism may have left her vulnerable to attacks, it does not mean she isn’t a radical feminist.

I will end with this powerful quote from Erica Jong’s 1996 essay about Hillary,“History has burdened Hillary Clinton with changing the way powerful women are perceived in our culture. But if she can see herself as part of a historical continuum, as a pathfinder opening the way for her daughter’s generation, she may be able to rise above the pain of daily crucifixions in the media.”