1.30.2007
Women Feeling Freer to Suggest ' Vite for Mom' (NYTimes.com)
POLITICAL MEMO
By ROBIN TONER
Published: January 29, 2007
WASHINGTON, Jan. 28 — Some women were struck by the politics of maternity practiced by Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton in recent weeks, the imagery and stagecraft that highlighted their roles as mothers and/or grandmothers.
For some, the issues were complicated: Is this a throwback, or a step forward? Is it politically smart?
For a long time women seeking high office, particularly executive office, were advised to play down their softer, domestic side, and play up their strength and qualifications. Focus groups often found voters questioning whether women were strong enough, tough enough, to lead.
Emily’s List, the Democratic women’s group, warned in an internal memo in 1988 that women must “fight throughout their campaigns to establish their qualifications, power, toughness and capacity to win.”
Breakthrough candidates like Senator Dianne Feinstein, the California Democrat who campaigned unsuccessfully for governor under the slogan “tough and caring” in 1990, worked hard to ease those doubts.
Some women embraced their outsider status. Senator Patty Murray, Democrat of Washington, campaigned in 1992 as “just a mom in tennis shoes,” capitalizing on a dismissive comment once directed her way by a male politician. But the reservations of many voters were real 15 or 20 years ago.
Today, many political strategists say women no longer have to be so defensive. Voters have grown more accustomed to women in powerful positions. And women like Ms. Pelosi and Mrs. Clinton, whatever other problems they may have, have been on the public scene long enough and are familiar enough players in the architecture of power that they no longer have to prove their strength day in and day out.
In fact, strong leadership was seen as one of Mrs. Clinton’s core attributes in a CBS News Poll, conducted Jan. 18-21. Sixty-four percent of the men surveyed, and 75 percent of the women, said Mrs. Clinton had strong qualities of leadership.
“It’s a whole different world,” said Bill Carrick, a Democratic strategist and a longtime Feinstein adviser. And the stereotypes are weakening as younger generations come along, Mr. Carrick added.
(More ... New York Times > Politics)
By ROBIN TONER
Published: January 29, 2007
WASHINGTON, Jan. 28 — Some women were struck by the politics of maternity practiced by Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton in recent weeks, the imagery and stagecraft that highlighted their roles as mothers and/or grandmothers.
For some, the issues were complicated: Is this a throwback, or a step forward? Is it politically smart?
For a long time women seeking high office, particularly executive office, were advised to play down their softer, domestic side, and play up their strength and qualifications. Focus groups often found voters questioning whether women were strong enough, tough enough, to lead.
Emily’s List, the Democratic women’s group, warned in an internal memo in 1988 that women must “fight throughout their campaigns to establish their qualifications, power, toughness and capacity to win.”
Breakthrough candidates like Senator Dianne Feinstein, the California Democrat who campaigned unsuccessfully for governor under the slogan “tough and caring” in 1990, worked hard to ease those doubts.
Some women embraced their outsider status. Senator Patty Murray, Democrat of Washington, campaigned in 1992 as “just a mom in tennis shoes,” capitalizing on a dismissive comment once directed her way by a male politician. But the reservations of many voters were real 15 or 20 years ago.
Today, many political strategists say women no longer have to be so defensive. Voters have grown more accustomed to women in powerful positions. And women like Ms. Pelosi and Mrs. Clinton, whatever other problems they may have, have been on the public scene long enough and are familiar enough players in the architecture of power that they no longer have to prove their strength day in and day out.
In fact, strong leadership was seen as one of Mrs. Clinton’s core attributes in a CBS News Poll, conducted Jan. 18-21. Sixty-four percent of the men surveyed, and 75 percent of the women, said Mrs. Clinton had strong qualities of leadership.
“It’s a whole different world,” said Bill Carrick, a Democratic strategist and a longtime Feinstein adviser. And the stereotypes are weakening as younger generations come along, Mr. Carrick added.
(More ... New York Times > Politics)
Labels: 2008 election, New York Times, Women
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