BY SUSAN ESTRICH
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Why Women Should Be for Hillary
There is one reason young women should support Hillary Clinton for
president. It happens to be, in my judgment anyway, precisely the same
reason men should support her: because she
is, by leaps and bounds, the only candidate in the race with the
experience necessary to lead this country. Indeed, The New York Times,
in endorsing her candidacy, noted that she was among the most
experienced people ever to seek the presidency.
And what about the fact she is a woman. Should women support a woman
they disagree with on fundamental issues, just because she is a woman?
I wouldn't, and I have described myself as a feminist for the last 40
years. I didn't support Sarah Palin, even though I took issue with the
sexist attacks on her by some of my liberal
"friends."
Years ago, I remember the endless internal discussions about whether
groups such as the Women's Campaign Fund should support women candidates
who were taking on men who shared our
liberal views. I always thought not. Make no mistake: I am the first to
recognize that having a significant number of women in the room changes
the dynamic of any meeting; and I have no doubt that electing Hillary
Clinton as president would bring a host of
positive changes for women around the world.
I have nothing but respect for Gloria Steinem and Madeleine Albright,
and I understand their frustration with young women who don't share our
determination to see a woman in the
White House. But it is precisely because of the successes and the
changes brought about by the courage and determination of women like
Steinem and Albright that young women today don't feel they have to
think of gender first. Isn't that what we taught them?
That every individual should be judged on his or her merits, and not
according to stereotypes based on their sex?
So if you're anti-choice and against immigration reform and gun control
and gay marriage and you name it, why should the fact that you share
anatomy with Hillary Clinton be more
important than what she believes and what you believe?
Women make up more than
half the electorate. Obviously, half the electorate doesn't vote as a
bloc or we could ignore all these pesky primaries and debates.
I think I've been using the line about the "special place in hell" for
women who don't help women for even longer than Albright has (she's
stolen your line, Yahoo blogger Brian Goldsmith
wrote to me in jest; he knows Albright is welcome to anything of mine).
But in my version, it's not younger women I'm scolding. It is women of
my generation. The special place in hell is reserved for women of my
age, women who know how tough it was for us
and respond not by trying to make it easier, better -- possible, at
least -- for younger women but by insisting that they suffer just as we
did.
And mostly, they do.
"Why didn't you tell me," my female students often ask me years later,
when they come back after their first or second jobs, "that sexism is
alive and well and continuing to impose
unfair limits on our careers?" It's not something you can just tell a
young woman, any more than you can tell her that she should vote for
Hillary Clinton. Because, down the road, she will discover that all
those things people say about Clinton -- that she's
"difficult" and not "likable" -- they are also saying about her.
To find out more about Susan Estrich and read features by other
Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate
website at www.creators.com.
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