Oct
09
2008
Seen but not Heard: Women's issues in politics
By: Patricia FancherFiled in: Media and Politics
Akoto posted earlier today on the the many breakthroughs in this election cycle, the role of the media in vetting Sarah Palin, and offers a feminist reading of her candidacy. In this post, I'm more interested in the effect - or lack thereof - of these breakthroughs on the role of women's issues in the campaigns and debates.
I would welcome correction, but we are now three debates down, one to go, and I do not remember a single instance where abortion, domestic violence, or any critical women's issues were raised as a topic for our Presidential and Vice-Presidential candidates to discuss. This seems especially odd since repeatedly, differences between the candidates appeared to be minimal; Obama and McCain have gone to lengths to elaborate on their "fundamental differences." An issue of true fundamental difference between Obama/Biden and McCain/Palin ticket is abortion. And it is one that the future administration will be in the position to protect or deny.
Is the American public uninterested or too preoccupied with the economic crisis to include women in political discourse? If the images in the media tell us anything, it is certainly that we are interested in representing women in election politics.
(keep scrolling - more to be said at the bottom)
How do we account for the contradiction between the girth of representation of women and the dearth of discussion of women's issues? Why haven't our candidates been asked to explain their positions on abortion or how they will address domestic violence or protect women from rape or provide assistance for women with eating disorders?
Finally, I wonder if women's issues would be completely ignored in presidential debates if Sen. Clinton had been nominated. On the other hand, could her historic run have somehow affected the place of women's issues in political discourse for the rest of the election season?
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Submitted by Patricia Fancher on Thu, 10/09/2008 - 19:07.
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It's the economy, stupid!
To quote the ever-honery James Carville: It's the economy, stupid!
I hate to reduce it to that, but I also don't think it's really unique to this election: the economy and national security are always front and center, and everything else falls by the wayside, especially anything related to civil rights, equality, and so on.
No Joke...
I couldn't agree with you more about the derth of discussion about issues that ACTUALLY matter to women and things that are token gestures FOR women. Sometimes I've been known to get up on a very high soapbox about who absurd it is that in a year when women (and feministy men) have put 18 million cracks in that glass ceiling we aren't talking about things like abortion, child care, family leave, etc.
It really gets to me that this has been left to the candidates wives! Michele Obama has spoken eloquently and at great length about the importance of providing good child care for working mothers. Economoic slowdowns often hit women harder than men for a variety of reasons and I think that talking about how working mothers are responding to an economic crisis could be incredibly interesting and helpful.
Sheish, yeah I don't have much of a comment except to say RIGHT ON!
discursive eclipse
hi brad. I totally agree and how could I not when almost every min of TV news and almost every page of the paper is on the economy. It is def on the forefront of American's minds. But last week McCain's campaign did a good job of trying to change topic.
McCain trails Obama when it comes to the economy. In response McCain has tried to direct attention to personal differences between himself and Obama to make up for lost ground. Some have said that McCain is trying to talk about anything but the economy. Why not women's issues? He has lost ground with middle class white women after Palin's short lived boost in that demographic. Women are hit harder (as Ashley has also noticed) during economic hardship then men on average. Wouldn't some discussion of this fact help McCain? Maybe it would boost his perception as an all American leader and family man?
Really - McCain's campaign tactics are not the issue. My real concern is that no one has bothered raise women's issues as a topic for discussion.
Completely denied discursive representation. Although discussion of other topics is often superficial at best, the same statement can not be said about education, race, health care, or gay marriage.