Women at the Table

In 1995, communication scholar Kathleen Hall Jamieson wrote of the "double bind" that women who want to enter politics face. Beginning her book with an analysis of Hillary Rodham Clinton, the then First Lady of the United States, Jamieson showed how the idea of "the feminine" handicapped women in politics. If a woman were too feminine, she would appear not to be fit for the rigors of the political game; if she were not feminine enough, she would be unlikeable and unelectable. Thus women faced an unwinnable situation, a double bind. The women in this book also have faced limitations and handicaps because of their gender, but they know how to turn the problem to their advantage--as women have been doing in America's civic world since the beginning of this nation.
For example, the very feminine nineteenth-century newspaper columnist Fanny Fern humorously argued that woman's "feminine" nature was necessary to clean up politics since men were unable to do so:
Our scholars and poets have refrained from voting, jointly fearing their tender sensibilities and tender coat-tails. Let them no longer unpatriotically ignore the future of their country, but join the women in a decent ballot-box.
I should dislike to apply the term coward to these talented men, who sit in their libraries burying that "talent," so far as Government is concerned, while ruffians, who can neither read nor write, are choosing their children's rulers by the help of bad rum. In Heaven's name, if they will not wake up themselves to what is due from their intelligence and their manhood, at least let them bid God-speed to the day when the mothers of their children may be allowed an intelligent and intelligible voice.
Women also very seriously made the point that society's expectations for women were paradoxical. For example, early twentieth century labor activist Rose Schneiderman stated:
We have women working in the foundries, stripped to the waist, if you please, because of the heat. Yet the Senator says nothing about these women losing their charm. They have got to retain their charm and delicacy and work in foundries. Of course, you know the reason they are employed in foundries is that they are cheaper and work longer hours than men. Women in the laundries, for instance, stand for 13 or 14 hours in the terrible steam and heat with their hands in hot starch. Surely these women won't lose any more of their beauty and charm by putting a ballot in a ballot box once a year than they are likely to lose standing in foundries or laundries all year round. There is no harder contest than the contest for bread, let me tell you that.
And even without the vote, women were in politics: for example, in 1872, Victoria Woodhull ran for presidency; in 1916, Jeanette Rankin was elected into the House of Representatives where she did vote against the United States' entry into World War I. Finally, in 1920, all female citizens of the United States could vote: the states ratified the Constitutional Amendment that had stopped 51% of United States Citizens from voting.
In the twenty-first century, much has changed. Rodham Clinton is no longer First Lady, and she has gone on to her political career despite what became her 1992 blunder that she "could have stayed home and baked cookies and had tea" but chose not to do so. A woman became Speaker of the House of Representatives. Two women have become the United States' Secretary of State. And thousands of other women have been elected or appointed to other national, state, and local positions.
However, in this century, some things have not changed much. Still, women are continually judged for their role in the family, what they wear, and how they wield power. A poor mother, an inattentive wife, a woman with "bad hair" or is "too shrill" makes a poor elected official, thinks much of the public. Before Janet Reno, few Attorney Generals were judged by their wardrobes. Additionally, men in political office do not have a rounded belly announcing their family's expected new member; men less commonly face welfare when a marriage ends; and few men are told that they should be "at home" when they campaign during business hours. Yet, even with these biological, economic, and social realities, women do participate—and excel--as politicians.
And in elected office, women tend to remember those who have often been overlooked by male politicians: children, the elderly, the uninsured, the poor, and the marginalized. As the traditional caretakers of our society, women remember to care when they are in office, benefiting the country in ways even Abigail Adams, who urged her husband in 1776 to "Remember the Ladies," could not have foreseen.
This book provides a number of glimpses into successful political women's lives and careers, illustrating how they benefit this country as they negotiate the double binds they face, in addition to facing the many other challenges of political office. More interestingly, perhaps, this book shows how the double bind that Jamieson described in 1992 is changing, and may be beginning to disappear, as more women have female role models to follow and have blazed a trail through the gender landmines.
These 40 portraits illustrate common threads, and very different ones. Some are married, some single, some with grown children, some with none. Some women, like Diane Snelling, went into politics following mothers and fathers. Others, like Terrie Norelli, came from blue collar families who probably never dreamed that their daughter would be running a state legislature. Some, like Linda Dorcena Forry, are beginning their political careers; others like Betty Hall, have been in politics since the 1960s. Some, like Marie Lopez Kirkley-Bey have experienced welfare; some, Margaret Hassan, became involved in politics initially because they needed to advocate. Still more decided to become involved, as did Donna Loring, because they were asked to run.
Despite the differences, these women have much in common. They are passionate, determined, smart, and feminine—in the twenty-first century sense of the word. This book provides a wonderful snapshot of these politicians' perceptions of themselves, their strategies as political women, and the hope we have for the future.
Elizabethada Wright - Associate Professor Rivier College