A woman’s role in the U.S. is constantly being redefined. As time passes, feminists grow in number, striving towards one goal, equality. Despite a long history of a culture deeply rooted in the ideals of hegemonic masculinity, gender equality has slowly gained momentum, to the point where it’s a very real possibility that we could have a women sitting in the oval office come January. We as a society have come so far even since 1993 when Hillary Clinton became the first lady and at that time “a feminist coming there [to the white house] was too jarring for a lot of people” says Clinton to The Rolling Stone (49). Only a few decades ago the thought of a first lady being a feminist was taboo. So that begs the question, is our country ready for a female president? Despite statisticians and pollsters attempts to call the election, the answer can only be definitively known come November 8th. So instead of trying to bog myself down in polls and the whole “who won what” debate, I decided to do some investigative journalism myself. I took to the streets to ask real, college aged women about women’s roles in regards to the gender argument and the election.
What I found is that all interviewees recognized women’s role in the 21st century as taking on a somewhat liberated role. One women, Catherine, said a women’s role was “anything… being able to fulfill you’re self dreams and goals”. I followed this answer up asking if she thinks this role is fully and equally achievable, she responded, “I think it’s achievable but at this point in time, no, I don’t think they have equal opportunity”. All the women interviewed followed a similar discourse to that of Catherine’s. They noted progress in women’s freedom and role in society however they thought that women aren’t quite equal in the eyes of society and in opportunity. It became clear, gender equality was important to these college aged women, but how much did this influence their decision on who got their vote? When asked about their main issues in the election not a single woman singled out gender equality, women’s rights or anything of the sort. Therefore, the gender issue wasn’t seen as a deciding factor but rather a compliment to those in favor of Clinton and in the case of Trump…well one optimistic interviewee explained it was something that “Trump would have to change his stance once he’s in office, if he was president he’d act more presidential” says Lucy, age 22.
It is no doubt that gender is largely at the forefront of this election especially with two candidates that virtually represent polar-opposite ends of the spectrum. I know that interviewing a dozen college aged women does not begin to try to predict how the election will turn out but it does remind us to question the power of the gender argument and to what extent it will dictate peoples decision come election day.
Sources:
Reitman, Janet. “Hillary Vs. The Hate Machine.” Editorial. Rolling Stone 6 Oct. 2016: 44-49. Print.
Great post, you really went above and beyond.
I think a lot of people were asking similar questions about the state of America’s identity right before the 2008 election. I think the thought of a black man being elected president excited a lot of people who were and are fighting racial injustices. In 2008 we took the pulse of America collectively and found that we as a country were ready to have a person of color become president. I think a similar sort of referendum is going to take place on November 8th of this year. Policies aside for both candidates, the American public will be deciding if we are at a point where a woman can be president. If I were Clinton I’d be optimistic about my chances, but this campaign isn’t over yet.