BlogHer - Sarah Palin: Settling for the face of feminism while trading in its soul - Comments

I agree with you on many

moomettesgram — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 07:57:22 -0500

I agree with you on many points. I am a Baby Boomer and have fought hard in the workplace to get to where I am career-wise. It was so much different in the '70s when I came of age and raised my children in the '80s. This pick is an insult to all women, and particularly women of my age who fought their way up the hard way. I am glad I returned to Blog Her and will look at the many blogs written by the fine women here to gather a basis for my views. I might even do a blog post to encourage women to look to Blog Her for honest opinions and not to get blindsided.

Cindi

Moomettesgram's Musings

http://moomettesgramsmusings.com

http://mamamentor.com

:) aw shucks

Jill Miller Zimon — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 21:05:54 -0500

I agree re: I wouldn't have watched the RNC convention except for the thought that if I want to be able to speak with any cred, or feel that I do have any cred, how can I not watch? It isn't as though I won't still have a bias, but that doesn't mean I can't learn things I didn't know.

This kind of no-holds-barred blogging lets us get to the things we really feel and feel them out with one another - I love the power of that.

Jill
Writes Like She Talks

I continue to learn so much

Laracolvin — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 12:56:39 -0500

You know, thanks to you, Jill and Denise, and all of the the other bloggers exchanging conversationabout this, I continue to learn so much. And I realize how little I've thought about what is important when it comes to elections and women in politics. I'll give you an example: the other day I made a tongue-in-cheek joke on twitter about how I wasn't sure if the RNC was in my tv viewing plans. Denise pushed me for clarification, and even though I was going to watch it ulimately, her comment stuck with me. She said, "are you kidding? How are you going to make an informed decision?"

And she is right. Before I became familiar with this community I would NEVER have watched the RNC, nor would I have had the patience to have these exchanges with women who feel completely opposite of me on the issues. In fact, I'm ashamed to admit I would have snorted in disgust and "unfollowed" them on Twitter even! But now, I'm engaging in a way I haven't before and really, really respecting people for their views - even if they are different than mine. I'm thinking about the issues, not just if I respect a politican as a person or like him/her (I'd certainly like to in every situation, but unfortunately today the issues and ability to get things done w/a solid team matter more). In many ways, I feel politically, I was a young girl before and I've somehow become a grown-up woman in this process. And it feels good. I've even gone back to my blog and looked at early posts and recognized my own sexism. As embarrassing as it is, I'm not deleting them b/c they show how far I've come.

Now - about your post...wicked accurate points. Your articulation of questions and ideas that swirl under the surface in my brain is absolute magic.

Thanks again.

Lara

Notions of Identity

I really appreciate you Denise

Jill Miller Zimon — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 11:17:50 -0500

Because you are so thoughtful. I'm totally sincere here - I think you know that. Obviously the angst of women who have done as much if not more than Palin and have hit ceilings repeatedly drives me here - and those women are found all along the spectrum. I'm only one of them but her selection does not, IMO, help us.

Jill
Writes Like She Talks

Was commenting on your personal blog and

Denise — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 11:14:49 -0500

accidentally closed the tab. Now here you are.

I may have something more indepth to say later but for now I want you to know that I like the post and respect (and sort of agree) on several of the points you've made here.

~Denise
BlogHer Community Manager

Flamingo House Happenings

Sarah Palin: Settling for the face of feminism while trading in its soul

Jill Miller Zimon — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 11:07:22 -0500

American Princess writes on BlogHer and on her own blog.
I’m not that familiar with it, but I spent a few moments there this
morning. I like what I found - even though I disagree with it. If I
were a conservative woman, particular in her generation (let’s just say
I could be her mom - I’m finding I could be the mom of a lot of women
who let me befriend them lately though!), I can imagine making very
similar arguments in favor of Sarah Palin. Hattip to Denise for linking.

In her posts about Palin, American Princess deploys the debate
points I’d make if I thought even for one minute that I could support
Sarah Palin as John McCain’s running mate. But Sarah Palin and I
differ on pretty much every single issue (i.e., I’m pro-choice, I
believe that creationism is a fabricated construct intended to get
religion into the public schools, I’m anti-gun, I’m against drilling in
ANWR, and I have ideas about what vice presidents do), so this is a
no-brainer for me: on the issues alone, I wouldn’t be voting for her,
even if I lived in her hometown of Wasilia or her home state of Alaska,
let alone as a VP candidate on the GOP ticket.

That said, the danger in accepting as acceptable all the arguments
that American Princess makes in favor of Palin as a totally awesome,
appropriate and best selection for the USA’s vice president, following
in the footsteps of people like Dick Cheney, Al Gore, Walter Mondale
and even George Bush the first, exists in what it means from here on
out:

Recognizing, allowing and granting women success when they push for
what women like myself have always believed was worth pushing for and
using as debate points with employers, when looking for work after
having children and claiming that being on the PTA and raising kids
more than prepares us for leadership in pretty much any sector:

That those experiences do matter.

However, my gut and other evidence suggests that while the Palin
Pick may be the face of feminism, it is a face that is completely
detached from the soul, which would make and champion this argument of
what, in a life experience, matters, and when.

In real life, not the life of John McCain trying to get elected,
when women argue the value of the PTA to potential employers, they get
“pffft.” I know. I had this happen to me late last fall. It was
absolutely demoralizing, insulting and wrong - to have my literally
decades of service and accomplishments - in paid and unpaid roles -
consider to be nothing - absolutely nothing, because I have not been
employed except as a freelancer, since 2000.

So, if I believed that having Sarah Palin on the GOP ticket would
mean that from here on out, we will be giving the political party
structures, and every other sector that needs leaders, hell every time
they pfffft at the PTA and city council experiences mothers (or fathers
for that matter) bring to the table, and we could say, “But look what
John McCain said was enough!?,” and the employers would crumble and
fall and say, “Ah, yes! Of course!” and women would start to succeed
over the pfffts, and women like American Princess would continue to
help fight this battle for all the parents who serve on PTAs and city
council and have to fight to have those experiences recognized as
valuable, then hey - I would love this pick too, even though, as I
said, I don’t side with Palin on the issues.

Thing is, of course, that the breaking of the ceiling for women with Palin-like experience is not what this choice is about.

This choice is about helping the man, about getting John McCain
elected and not about helping parents who juggle and debate and decide
to swap board meetings for PTA meetings. Remember that when Palin
references Hillary Clinton’s 18 million cracks, Clinton made those
cracks because she was going for the top, not because she was asked to
help a man get to where he wants to go.

No one but those trying to make sense of the Palin Pick have even
tried to argue this angle - that now America must accept what women
like myself have always known: serving on the PTA and raising a family
absolutely provides you with great leadership skills and experience.

Why isn’t anyone making that argument?

In part because, serving on the PTA and raising a family does not
qualify you for being vice president of the United States. In fact, the
Palin Pick actually has the potential for knocking women off the ladder
and not propelling them through the ceiling because every time a woman
now steps forth to say, “But look! I have what she has!” and still
doesn’t get the offer, or the raise or the promotion, we are back where
we started.

Finally, does anyone honestly believe that the GOP - or anyone else
- will now and forever come forward and offer leadership roles to women
with the exact same modicum of experience as Palin, and ask them to
bring it on and challenge and get support from those ahead of them when
they do challenge?

For example:

Bobby Jindal, age 37, newly elected Louisiana governor - which women would the GOP support against him?

Kevin DeWine - would the Ohio GOP support any female Republican with the resume of a Sarah Palin against him?

John Boehner - the Ohio GOP going to support small-town Ohio female GOP mayors against him?

Or Chris Redfern, the Ohio Democratic Party chair - any women being
supported right here right now for that job? I know many women who have
as much experience as he has, certainly in comparison to the Palin Pick
over the other VP potentials.

If Sarah can be selected over numerous individuals like Mitt Romney
and Mike Huckabee, why not other small-town mayors with the same
experience as Palin over individuals like those named above, for far
less sweeping roles than vice president?

Because Palin is not on the ticket as a prod to move in the
direction I just described, and no one is having her tout the fact that
PTA members are good enough, experienced enough and doggone it
electable or employable enough to be selected for all kinds of
leadership roles.

I don’t know as much about feminism as pretty much all the other
women on the feminist listservs I follow, but I’d rather that Hillary
tried and fell short than Sarah Palin provide nothing more than a face
without a soul that gets ahead.