What women say about Hillary Clinton and leadership
Here鈥檚 a tricky question for female voters: In the name of advancing women鈥檚 rights, should they vote for Hillary Clinton to 鈥渂reak the glass ceiling鈥� and give the United States its first female president 鈥� despite their reservations about the candidate?
When former secretary of State Madeleine Albright and writer Gloria Steinem 鈥� two prominent feminists 鈥� indicated in February that a vote for Mrs. Clinton is a nod for feminism, they received a sharp backlash from women, especially younger ones.
A New York Times/CBS illustrates a similar trend: while a broad majority of voters are glad the milestone has been reached, half of them wish some other woman were poised to become the first female president.
Compared to other countries, the United States lags badly in the percentage of women in high office, ranking 33rd out of 49 high-income countries, according to a .
, , and all have women in top national leadership positions.
The new poll, conducted among 1,770 adults from Sept. 9 to Sept. 13, showed that Clinton is 52 percent of women likely to vote, and 45 percent of women think that electing her would be good for women. During her first presidential campaign, a NYT/CBS poll found that 70 percent of those surveyed saw her as a role model for women, compared to only 56 percent now.
But it doesn鈥檛 mean that voters are apathetic about problems faced by women. While acknowledging that much progress has been made to end sexism in the last two decades, most still state that sexual harassment at the workplace is a significant issue and three-quarters of women agree that women are still paid less than men for doing similar work.
鈥淲hat I see that as a reflection of is that we have a done a good job on the awareness issue,鈥� Teresa Boyer, executive director of the Center for Women and Work at Rutgers University, told . 鈥淭he negative is that it still exists.鈥�
Clinton has as a woman in politics, highlighting her work on women and children鈥檚 issues. Ms. Albright's and Ms. Steinem鈥檚 remarks in February were supposed to help her, but they instead angered young women, many of whom chose Bernie Sanders over Clinton, his policies to address income inequality and college tuition made him a feminist candidate.
鈥淭he feminist era of Hillary Clinton, Gloria Steinem, and Madeleine Albright has come to a close. Each heroic in her own way, these three icons of second-wave feminism have reached a pinnacle of sorts, along with the bittersweet recognition that they are sorely out of touch with today鈥檚 younger women,鈥� Kathleen Parker in February. 鈥淭he world they knew and helped change has produced a new generation no longer as concerned with the issues that animated their mothers and grandmothers.鈥�
It also doesn鈥檛 help that Clinton the 鈥渕ost disliked鈥� major-party presidential nominee. Her tendency toward secrecy, as exemplified in her private server scandal, is seen as among voters.
But aside from reservations about her character, the might be that young women are viewing a Clinton vote less on the basis of gender than on policies she's proposed.聽
, professor at the American University department of government, says in a phone interview with 海角大神 that to evaluate whether a candidate advances the ideals of feminism, voters should look at the policies that they put forth more than the gender of the candidate. But to have a women in office, Professor Lawless says, would be powerfully symbolic, shattering perceived or real barriers of entry to women in politics.
鈥淚t鈥檚 still important in that the US can break that final glass ceiling to demonstrate that the political scene is fully open to men and women,鈥� she says.
Clinton has a long history of advocating women's rights, working to reduce pay gaps and ensuring paid leave as well as of the Children鈥檚 Health Insurance Program as a first lady.
Her challenge might lie in trying to capture the young crowd, as feminists.聽鈥淭he term 'feminism' is off-putting to a lot of people," Lawless notes.
Of course, with Sanders out of the race, female voters鈥� choices are more limited, especially in light of Donald Trump鈥檚 unpopularity among women. Among the survey respondents, 55 percent said he does not respect women and nearly a half said his presidency would be bad for women. Only 11 percent said electing him would be good for women.
As Mr. Trump recently debuted a paid family leave plan, his 聽may hobble his efforts to win over women voters, as will changing cultural norms.聽The term 鈥渇eminism鈥� may not resonate strongly with younger women, but as a suggests, over 70 percent of Americans expect to see a female president in their lifetimes.
