Some Obama supporters are demeaning Senator Clinton by referring to her, not in her own right, but as “President Clinton’s wife.”  That’s the only phrase they use to describe her, and won’t even call her by name. I hope you will join me in contributing $10.44 (or more, if you can afford it) to Hillary Clinton’s campaign today.  (The 44 is indicative of making her the 44th president, and can help the campaign identify our contributions.)

When Women Rule (by Nicholas Kristof, The New York Times)

“A notable share of the great leaders in history have been women: Queen Hatshepsut and Cleopatra of Egypt, Empress Wu Zetian of China, Isabella of Castile, Queen Elizabeth I of England, Catherine the Great of Russia, and Maria Theresa of Austria. Granted, I’m neglecting the likes of Bloody Mary, but it’s still true that those women who climbed to power in monarchies had an astonishingly high success rate…

“Scholars find that women, compared with men, tend to excel in consensus-building and certain other skills useful in leadership. If so, why have female political leaders been so much less impressive in the democratic era?…  I have a pet theory about what’s going on.

In monarchies, women who rose to the top dealt mostly with a narrow elite, so they could prove themselves and get on with governing. But in democracies in the television age, female leaders also have to navigate public prejudices – and these make democratic politics far more challenging for a woman than for a man.

“Modern democracies may empower deep prejudices and thus constrain female leaders in ways that ancient monarchies did not.”

Clinton Battles Unconscious Bias Against Strong Women (Daisy Grewal has a doctorate in psychology from Yale University. Elena Grewal is a doctoral student in education at Stanford University.)

“For years, social scientists have known that people perceive female leaders more negatively than male leaders. Even when female leaders behave exactly like male leaders in controlled experiments, audiences still respond to them less favorably. This disfavor manifests itself through non-verbal behavior such as frowning and shaking one’s head while listening to a female leader speak. Both men and women are likely to display this behavior.

“While most Americans would be reluctant to admit it, perceptions of Hillary Clinton are strongly driven by stereotypes.”

Not to mention the right wing’s demonization of her for the last 18 years.  Please donate to her campaign today, if you can.

Carolyn Kay
MakeThemAccountable.com