Women and the Presidency

By Joseph Lewis

            During the course of the Democratic primaries, several women competed for securing the highest political office in the United States: the president. Four of the women in the party had great followings and seemed to be big contenders for the Democratic nomination: Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar, New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, and California Senator Kamala Harris. However, every single one of these candidates have dropped out, leaving Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and former Vice President Joe Biden as the top candidates in the race. Hawaii Representative Tulsi Gabbard is still in the race, but has little chance of securing the nomination at this point. Several news sources have questioned the results of the Democratic primaries so far and have wondered why female candidates have struggled to secure a presidential nomination especially after the 2016 election with Hillary Clinton in the mix. According to NBC News, “it once seemed reasonable to conclude that 2020 would be a good year for a woman to seek the Democratic nomination for president” (NBC News). However, it seemed not to be the case for this year.

Several news sources have offered some suggestions about why women struggle to become president in this nation when other countries around the world have had female leaders. CNN suggested that women in politics are “held to a higher standard when it came to being presidential, electable- and even likeable” (CNN). They even pointed out that women have struggled with balancing all three of those characteristics. Because of this, women seem to less likely be elected to executive offices.

Another reason that has been presented mainly ties to sexism. A lot of candidates and voters have to deal with sexism in the race. Senator Warren vocalized this conundrum that women are in. She said, “Gender in this race, you know, that is the trap question for every woman… If you say, yeah, there was sexism in this race, everyone says 'whiner.' And if you say, no, there was no sexism, about a bazillion women think, 'What planet do you live on?'" (NBC News). Warren tended to just absorb the blows of subtle and non-subtle sexism from the voters and the other nominees. Joe Biden has taken the problem of sexism to his advantage. He stated, “I think there's a lot of sexism in the way they went after Hillary… I think it was unfair, an awful lot of it. Well, that’s not going to happen with me” (NBC News).  According to this quote, Biden recognized that sexism is an issue with getting elected. He twisted it to say that if people vote for him, they won’t have to deal with sexism.

This situation and various reactions to women in politics fall right in line with the article by Funk, Hinojosa, and Piscopo about women and the effects they have in politics and the nomination process. In the article, the authors observed that voters generally view women as less corrupt and more trustworthy than men (Funk et al., 1). At the same time though, voters tend to be more harsh on women running for executive offices due to gender stereotypes and women and their ability to manage the economy and increase our security. Parties also try to play within the current political climate in order to win elections, which can determine how successful women could be within the party. According to the article, “If distrust of politics and disgust toward corruption are high, then parties may well nominate more women.” (Funk et al., 4). However, if the party feels that a male nominee will get them into office, they will push that option more heavily.

This issue of trying to win the presidency for the party has been a plague for women. Right now, the Democratic Party’s main goal for this upcoming election is to beat President Trump. From the way people have voted, it seems that the primary voters do not see women being able to do so. They still see women as more trustworthy and less corrupt on a general level. However, the political climate right now seems to state that a woman cannot beat President Trump in an election, even though Hillary Clinton beat President Trump in the popular vote in 2016 (Politico). It seems to be “deeply ingrained” in the voting populace and the party is playing within that notion in order to secure the presidency (Politico). It is possible though. Women have been elected into executive positions around the world. What it is going to take for a women to be elected president is the question we will need to figure out.

Sources

Picture: Leach, Samantha. "What to Expect from the Six Female Candidates Taking the Stage at the Democratic Debates." Glamour. June 26, 2019. Accessed March 12, 2020.

Articles: 

Allen, Jonathan. "The Year of 'No Women Need Apply.'" NBC News. March 5, 2020. Accessed March 12, 2020. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/year-no-woman-need-apply-n1150821

Funk, Kendall D., Magda Hinojosa, & Jennifer M. Piscopo. "Women to the Rescue: The Gendered Effects of Public Discontent on Legislative Nominations in Latin America." Party Politics, vol. 1, no. 13. May 2019. Accessed March 12, 2020. https://learningsuite.byu.edu/plugins/Upload/fileDownload.php?fileId=337d996a-WtWg-hDqs-oISj-sz95f0b8ac68

Hunt, Swanee. "Four Women were Serious Candidates for President. What Happened?" CNN. March 11, 2020. Accessed March 12, 2020. https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/06/opinions/sexism-2020-election-opinion-hunt/index.html

Politico Magazine. "Was it Sexism?" Politico. March 6, 2020. Accessed March 12, 2020. https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/03/06/what-will-it-take-for-american-to-elect-a-woman-president-122644