WEEK FIVE: Did Clinton lose because she was a 'nasty woman' or just a woman?
Commentators continue to argue over the impact, if any, that Hillary Clinton's gender had on the surprising final outcome of the election. Unlike the UK, America has never had a female leader. Some people believe, such as Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg that sexism was a 'major, major factor' in the outcome. This is only compounded by some of the stories that emerged during the campaign that suggested that Trump had, in the past, demonstrated a less than respectful attitude towards women.TASK: Using this BBC article that summarises Clinton's own views (from her recently published book 'What Happened') as a starting point, research suggested reasons why the surprising result happened. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-41244474
During your research, consider the impact of sexism, attitudes and stereotypes of women and the way that Clinton's gender was presented during the campaign.
Post comments below to answer this question: How far do you agree that Hillary Clinton would now be president of the United States if she was a man?
Further reading: It might be interesting to research Trump's policies and attitudes towards women since being in power. Some of which have been interpreted in this way...
By reading the article, at first Clinton seems to be passing the blame for her defeat to numerous different reasons such as sexism, Putin, Obama and the media. But in the end she admits that she had a large part to play in the verdict.
ReplyDeleteShe believed that sexism and misogyny played a role in the results as in her view, her gender was an obstacle she had to overcome. She believed she had to “to work extra hard to make women and men feel comfortable with the idea of a woman president”.
Clinton believed Putin influenced the results as although few knew it at the time, there was mounting evidence over the course of the 2016 election that Russia was attempting to influence the outcome. Through hacking of Democratic Party emails and state electoral databases, social media advert purchases and bots, and the proliferation of political propaganda, the US intelligence community has concluded that Russian President Vladimir Putin was attempting to put his finger on the electoral scale in favour of the Republican.
Obama’s role in Clinton’s defeat was that according to media reports, part of the reason why the nation didn't know about the evidence implicating Russia in election meddling until after the election is because President Barack Obama wouldn't go public unless he had the support of Republicans in Congress. Without that support, the president kept quiet - concerned that any action he took would be viewed as being done for partisan benefit.
Clinton believed the media presented her in a bad light and she singles out the New York Times, in particular, which she accuses of "shoddy reporting" about her use of a private email server and over-hyping Mr Comey's election-eve letter announcing the FBI was reopening its investigation.
Academics at NYU decided to test if Clinton was a man, would she have won the election. They staged a dramatic recreation of the presidential debates, but with a woman actor delivering Trump lines and copying Trump’s domineering attitude and body language, while a man performed as the cautious and restrained Clinton. The academics reported that the results surprised them. Audiences, and the researchers themselves, said they did not find the aggressive, interrupting female version of Trump, “Brenda King,” off-putting at all. They liked her. Even though they didn’t want to, they liked her.