Her outfit is ugly. Her make up looks terrible. What kind of hairstyle is that? She needs to wear a dress. She needs to smile more. She needs to laugh more. She needs to be less cold. I hate her personality. I just really don’t like her. She’s so robotic. She needs to be more likeable. She needs to stop being so aggressive. She needs to speak in a soft voice. She’s a bitch.
From what you’ve just read above, how many of these things have you heard relating to a male in politics? Have we ever really cared about what a male is wearing? No, not really. We hold women to a much higher standard, especially when they’re in the spotlight.
When it comes to politics, women don’t seem to be taken as seriously. What they believe in and what they’re fighting for doesn’t seem to matter. What matters is what they’re wearing and how they’re acting. If they aren’t smiling or laughing they’re perceived as distant and cold. If they are smiling or laughing they are perceived as silly girls that don’t take anything seriously. So then, how are they to act? Because either way they are judged harshly by the media.
Someone recently ran for president, you may have heard of her, her name is Hillary Rodham Clinton. The first woman to become a presidential nominee ever in the history of the United States. But the first thing that comes up when I search her name on the internet is how she has a new pixie cut. When I first found out this woman was running for president I was elated. I remember going to caucus with my mom back in 2008 where we supported her. Then, she announced that she was running to possibly become president in 2016. I proceeded to caucus for her then. At this time, I started to see how twisted people acted towards women in politics.
During this election, I began to see it more and more. Everywhere I turned I saw horrible things being said about this woman. How she was perceived as having a horrible personality, dressing poorly, and being too aggressive. In my head, I was sitting there thinking “this is not fair.” Look at her ideas, look at her experience, and look at what she has accomplished. But it is all too late for that now. The electoral college has already chosen who will be serving as president for the next four years (gulp).
I stood with her since day one. People around me criticized me constantly telling me that she was a liar. If you want, go ahead and comment about how she is a liar and how she should be “locked up.” I could care less, I’ve heard it all by now. And please, go ahead and tell me about her emails. Because that’s all I want to hear about. No, I want to hear about how she served as a senator for eight years, how she was the first lady for eight years, and how she ran for president twice. Because she didn’t receive as much credit for that as she should have.
Bottom line, women are treated much differently when it comes to their role in politics. No matter how women politicians act, they will be judged. But this is something that women in leadership positions experience all the time. When will we realize that women can be assertive like men and not be judged for it? Women's roles in the working world have certainly improved in the 21st century, but there's still much more we can do to officially shatter that glass ceiling.
