my little feminist self

The Women's Media Center recently released this video; watching it reminds me that the struggle for equality continues. I understand that this is an edited assortment of media clips, but the frustrating thing is, is that there shouldn't even be these clips to edit together.

Regardless of your political leanings I think it is fair to say that it has been an interesting couple of months. I know that for me, as a New York state voter, I cast my vote over 4 months ago, which at this point seems like ages ago. It was a struggle deciding who I would vote for - the bottom line is that I thought both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama would be an excellent President. However, in the end, I chose Obama - the ultimate deciding factors weren't related solely to policy either. I thought about things as simple as having young children in the White House, a constant reminder of our future. As idealistic as it may sound, it seems to me that having children under the age of 10 around will help to keep our focus on issues that are important, healthcare for all, decreasing our oil dependence in order to preserve our shared planet, and improving our education system, to name a few.  I believe that Obama is the best candidate to bring our country out of the depressed place it has fallen in the last 8 years under the Bush presidency.

But back to the issue at hand, what did Hillary Clinton's Presidential campaign achieve for women? In Sunday's NYTimes, Gail Collins wrote an op-ed piece in which she highlighted this very topic. I think it is difficult for many people to engage in this conversation because there is real hatred for the Clinton's, their political machine, their ablity to win at all cost and who can forget, their history. But the reality remains that history was made, no longer will the idea of a women running for President be laughed at. (in 5th grade I told my social studies teacher that I would be the first woman President - - - my campaign will never take off because I was born in England, so I'm disqualified ;))

As a country we have a terribly low representation of women in the US House of Representatives and the Senate. In the House, there are currently 365 men and 70 women. In the Senate, there are 16 women and 84 men. But yet 52% of the voting poulation are women. Where are the women in politics?

There is an excellent organization, Emily's List, that is seeking to address this very question. I encourage you all to check it out. Maybe the more women we have representing us not only in politics but as CEOs, and in the media we as women will not have to be subjected to comments concerning our outfits but rather people will be talking about the ideas we are promoting, the change we are advocating for and the achievements we have accomplished.

I applaud Hillary Clinton for her efforts; I appluad her work as my Senator; I applaud her drive, her passion, her brilliance; I applaud her for every glass ceiling she cracked, broke and shattered. I don't think that her losing was because she was a woman, she lost because Obama ran a better campaign and connected with voters. If you are interested, Hillary Clinton's concession speech from Saturday, June 7, 2008.

The take away, is that sexism is still prelevent, its not why Hillary lost, but the subtle ways that it manifests itself are clearly still alive and kicking. Its something we should start talking about...



"Remember no one can make you feel inferior without your consent."
—Eleanor Roosevelt