One Battle At A Time

I was surprised at how torn I was during the primary season. I wasn't worked into a frenzy over either candidate and I like them both for the same and different reasons. For me, either way it was a win of sorts. Now that Barack Obama has won, I will be able to vote for a black Democratic nominee. Had Hillary taken it, I would have been able to vote for a woman. For women who haven't experienced brazen sexism and chauvinism in the workplace as I have, their choice between the two was easy. But I've never really been able to tell which "ism" has dogged me the most since I joined the workforce because they've both been at play in some form or another both separately and at the same time. I guess I understand why some white women are not so much angry as they are heart broken. For all of Hillary's alleged flaws and for all of the mistakes she and her handlers (her husband included) made in this campaign, she did open the door for a female president much sooner than any of us ever thought.

Respect is a powerful word for women, probably because it's something most of us get far too little of. In a nutshell, that's why Sen. Clinton's fighting stance these past few months has touched a gender chord that has resonated with women everywhere.

Across demographics, women clearly want to see someone fight for their right to be respected. And you didn't have to listen hard to hear Clinton demanding just that for her supporters Tuesday night.

Respect: Forty years after Aretha Franklin scored a hit by demanding it, women are still searching for it, and the undermining role sexism played in this campaign has left many feeling its lack in Clinton's race to the top.

A just-released Pew Research Center poll found that nearly 40 percent of Clinton's female supporters believe that her gender hurt her candidacy. This being 2008, that sexism often took a more subtle path than in the past, taking bites out of Clinton's authority and "likeability" in ways that were arguably more insidious than the overt epithets.

Overt or understated, this primary season was undeniably disrespectful to a woman who instead deserved our utmost respect, just like any other candidate for our nation's highest office.

Of course, gender played against Clinton, as it inevitably will as long as we stay in the business of throwing one woman at a time up to the top. Doing so necessitates that a woman prove she's "man enough" for the job, it demands an impossible level of "perfection," and it requires a balancing act between the tough and the feminine that even the Cirque du Soleil couldn't manage.

A sole woman vying for the top position will always have to be twice as good to be just good enough. The truth is, women have been empowered in this country, but we are not in power.