Women in Politics: You've Gotta be Tough

2008 was a great year for women in the political scene. A woman ran in the primaries for president of the United States, and another was a vice presidential nominee. Although neither woman made it to the White House, they made their way into history. Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin are two extremely different women. Hillary was on the left, Sarah on the right. Hillary had experience, Sarah, not so much. From watching the two women’s journey throughout the election process, it seemed evident that Hillary had thicker skin than Sarah did. Hillary never had the issue of comments against her being sexist, and no one ever seemed to give her ‘slack’ for being a woman. However, when Sarah’s name was put on the ballot, it seemed to be a completely different story. When comments were made about her having a newborn with downs-syndrome and a pregnant daughter and how she should be spending more time taking care of her family- it was a sexist comment. What is sexist about taking care of your family? People brought up the fact that it may be hard for her to handle the family situation along with the job of being vice president. Again, sexist. News stations were asked to refrain from interviews with Sarah and also to refrain from commenting on previous interviews. Why would she need protecting from the limelight? From the argument earlier, it seems as though her skin was not tough enough for politics.