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Still in Second Place After All These Years
While the Democrats celebrated Hillary's second-place finish as a yet another phony "triumph" for women's liberation, Susan Faludi sketched the big picture in a editorial for the New York Times:
Today, the United States ranks 22nd among the 30 developed nations in its proportion of female federal lawmakers. The proportion of female state legislators has been stuck in the low 20 percent range for 15 years; women’s share of state elective executive offices has fallen consistently since 2000, and is now under 25 percent. The American political pipeline is 86 percent male.
Women’s real annual earnings have fallen for the last four years. Progress in narrowing the wage gap between men and women has slowed considerably since 1990, yet last year the Supreme Court established onerous restrictions on women’s ability to sue for pay discrimination. The salaries of women in managerial positions are on average lower today than in 1983.
Women’s numbers are stalled or falling in fields ranging from executive management to journalism, from computer science to the directing of major motion pictures. The 20 top occupations of women last year were the same as half a century ago: secretary, nurse, grade school teacher, sales clerk, maid, hairdresser, cook and so on.
Hillary Clinton's candidacy was killed by the media patriarchy, a male blogocracy, and Obama's unscrupulous race-baiting, and now women are under tremendous pressure to forgive and forget again.
Women have been forgiving and forgetting over and over ever since they got the vote 88 years ago, and most of them are still living in the low-wage ghetto of second place in everything: The woman is a nurse, the man is a doctor, the man is a boss, the woman is a secretary, and this job profile is the same as it was in 1950.
Forgive and forget...
Thanks to Susan Faludi for reminding us that Hillary Clinton's second-place finish isn't a "historic break-through"...
It's the same old shit, and if Hillary Clinton weren't putting a brave face on it, the same old mob would be howling for her blood.
Comments (4)
I can’t say that I’m a big fan of more social programs, but speaking in New Orleans John McCain announced what I believe will be a cornerstone of his plan for economic recovery.
When asked about the wage disparity between male and female workers after voting against some ridiculous “Fair Pay Act” (Didn’t we vote that down as part of the ERA in 1977?) McCain answered ““They need the education and training, particularly since more and more women are heads of their households, as much or more than anybody else,” McCain said, “It’s a vicious cycle that’s affecting women, particularly in a part of the country like this, where mining is the mainstay; traditionally, women have not gone into that line of work, to say the least.”
If this is the cornerstone of a new jobs program and its not to expensive I don’t dislike it. We need more energy in this country and anybody whose seen North Country can attest, women have been working as miners for over 35 years, but many shy away from the profession probably because of black lung disease and mine collapses.
August 27, 2008 1:04 AM | Reply | Permalink
I'm no fan of Hillary, but pretending that she didn't accomplish something big and significant is pretty stupid. And her candidacy wasn't killed by a "media patriarchy," it was killed by surprisingly poor campaign management.
Progress in narrowing the wage gap between men and women has slowed considerably since 1990, yet last year the Supreme Court established onerous restrictions on women’s ability to sue for pay discrimination.
Good point. Letting the Supreme Court slip further to the right would be stupid for anyone who cares about issues like these.
August 27, 2008 1:13 AM | Reply | Permalink
This is really it.
Hillary may have been undone by males, but those males were Bill Clinton, Mark Penn, et al. (Although Matthews was certainly trying his damnedest during the primary to help them.)
August 27, 2008 1:18 AM | Reply | Permalink
So? What does it mean? I agree that America is woefully inadequate in gender equality. The British elected Margaret Thatcher to lead their country. Germans have Angela Merkel leading theirs. And we are celebrating the fact that a woman in America came close to getting a parties nomination? America still has a LONG way to go.
That being said the only way to achieve gender equality in America is to support democratic politicians, including the soon to be current nominee. They are willing to make positive changes while the GOP actively stands in the way of the goal of gender equality. Hillary should still be proud because she showed a woman can be a viable candidate for president and there were 18,000,000 examples that can be cited as 'proof'. The democrats should actively try to get more woman candidates on the local, state and federal levels. If they can I am fully expecting to see a woman president in my lifetime...progress can be slow but progress is still being made.
August 27, 2008 1:35 AM | Reply | Permalink
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