What Will It Take to Make A Woman President?: Conversations About Women, Leadership and Power by Marianne Schnall Page A
Authors: Marianne Schnall
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shows you what it could be like.
MS : In terms of leaders today, man or woman, what traits or qualities do you think are most important to have?
JB : Intelligence, integrity—those are the two things that come to mind. And a certain humanity, a “menschiness.” That’s why I like Obama. I think he has all that. You would never catch him cheating on his wife. It’s not going to happen. And he’s very, very smart. I think that he might be difficult at times, because they say he doesn’t want to bend too easily, but you need to be flexible, too, I guess. Pragmatic—that’s another thing. One of the reasons I liked him and I voted for him was that I think he’s pragmatic. I think he wants to solve things.
MS : There have been all these studies saying that oftentimes it’s women themselves who are sort of reluctant to aspire to leadership positions, that they have to be convinced to run for office, or even just to advocate for themselves or negotiate for a raise. What advice would you offer to girls, and young women particularly, on finding their worth, following their calling? What words of wisdom would you give?
JB : I believe that young women need to take care of their financial house. If you have a way of earning a living and you can save some money so that you can take risks, I would suggest something like that. Because, you know, women stay in bad marriages because they don’t have any money. They stay in abusive relationships because they can’t get out, because they don’t have the ability to move or change. So I would say always make sure that you’re financially stable, so that you can take a risk. You shouldn’thave to stay in a job. One of the benefits of this country is that we have the freedom to move around. This is not Afghanistan. So you shouldn’t stay in a situation that you hate. And the way that you get out of that is when you have some money. That’s one thing I would say to them.
WOMEN AND GIRLS IN THE MEDIA
In 1984, NBC’s Tom Brokaw described Vice Presidential Nominee Geraldine Ferraro as a “size 6” at the Democratic National Convention. On the day Condoleezza Rice became America’s first African American female national security adviser in 2001, a front page New York Times story reported that “her dress size is between a 6 and an 8.” Broadcast news outlets have called Secretary of State Hillary Clinton a “bitch,” “harpy,” “nutcracker,” “ugly,” and far worse. Media outlets regularly obsess over female politicians’ hair, bodies, clothing, and motherhood choices — a double standard that is virtually never applied to male politicians. When journalism treats female politicians like ladies first and leaders only a distant second, the public is led to believe that women are less qualified to lead — and less electable — than their male counterparts. The roots of this double standard go beyond the content itself, to an institutional bias within the media industry .
—J ENNIFER L. P OZNER, AUTHOR, FOUNDER AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF W OMEN IN M EDIA & N EWS
If the media shows women in a degrading, demeaning way, if violence is not taken seriously, if female candidates are covered in the context of how they look and what their hair is like and how they’re dressed as opposed to how the male candidates are referred to, this has an impact on women and girls. Not always conscious, but it can’t help but make us feel somehow we don’t count as much. It’s not a cognitive thing, it’s a visceral response, I think .
—J ANE F ONDA
I would like to see more women in executive positions in the media. I mean, it still really is an old boy’s club. It’s changing, and there are increasingly more women in executive levels, but we definitely need to see more. The more women, the more minorities we have at the executive levels, the more sensitive we’ll be for women and for minorities .
—L ISA L ING
Women often don’t look like they’re presented in the
MS : In terms of leaders today, man or woman, what traits or qualities do you think are most important to have?
JB : Intelligence, integrity—those are the two things that come to mind. And a certain humanity, a “menschiness.” That’s why I like Obama. I think he has all that. You would never catch him cheating on his wife. It’s not going to happen. And he’s very, very smart. I think that he might be difficult at times, because they say he doesn’t want to bend too easily, but you need to be flexible, too, I guess. Pragmatic—that’s another thing. One of the reasons I liked him and I voted for him was that I think he’s pragmatic. I think he wants to solve things.
MS : There have been all these studies saying that oftentimes it’s women themselves who are sort of reluctant to aspire to leadership positions, that they have to be convinced to run for office, or even just to advocate for themselves or negotiate for a raise. What advice would you offer to girls, and young women particularly, on finding their worth, following their calling? What words of wisdom would you give?
JB : I believe that young women need to take care of their financial house. If you have a way of earning a living and you can save some money so that you can take risks, I would suggest something like that. Because, you know, women stay in bad marriages because they don’t have any money. They stay in abusive relationships because they can’t get out, because they don’t have the ability to move or change. So I would say always make sure that you’re financially stable, so that you can take a risk. You shouldn’thave to stay in a job. One of the benefits of this country is that we have the freedom to move around. This is not Afghanistan. So you shouldn’t stay in a situation that you hate. And the way that you get out of that is when you have some money. That’s one thing I would say to them.
WOMEN AND GIRLS IN THE MEDIA
In 1984, NBC’s Tom Brokaw described Vice Presidential Nominee Geraldine Ferraro as a “size 6” at the Democratic National Convention. On the day Condoleezza Rice became America’s first African American female national security adviser in 2001, a front page New York Times story reported that “her dress size is between a 6 and an 8.” Broadcast news outlets have called Secretary of State Hillary Clinton a “bitch,” “harpy,” “nutcracker,” “ugly,” and far worse. Media outlets regularly obsess over female politicians’ hair, bodies, clothing, and motherhood choices — a double standard that is virtually never applied to male politicians. When journalism treats female politicians like ladies first and leaders only a distant second, the public is led to believe that women are less qualified to lead — and less electable — than their male counterparts. The roots of this double standard go beyond the content itself, to an institutional bias within the media industry .
—J ENNIFER L. P OZNER, AUTHOR, FOUNDER AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF W OMEN IN M EDIA & N EWS
If the media shows women in a degrading, demeaning way, if violence is not taken seriously, if female candidates are covered in the context of how they look and what their hair is like and how they’re dressed as opposed to how the male candidates are referred to, this has an impact on women and girls. Not always conscious, but it can’t help but make us feel somehow we don’t count as much. It’s not a cognitive thing, it’s a visceral response, I think .
—J ANE F ONDA
I would like to see more women in executive positions in the media. I mean, it still really is an old boy’s club. It’s changing, and there are increasingly more women in executive levels, but we definitely need to see more. The more women, the more minorities we have at the executive levels, the more sensitive we’ll be for women and for minorities .
—L ISA L ING
Women often don’t look like they’re presented in the
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