Comments on: Trailblazing Women

By: Politicalguineapig

Politicalguineapig — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 21:29:29 +0000

My two cents- if we elect Palin there won’t be another woman in power for a LONG LONG Time. Seriously, looking at the woman’s policies, she’s an honorary man. I’d rather have a woman president twenty years from now than a self hating woman vice president.

By: Eclectic Radical

Eclectic Radical — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 12:37:31 +0000

There is also the fact that teachers no longer wield the same authority or possess the same aura that they did when we were kids. The modern teacher, hamstrung by ridiculous rules set by school boards, legislatures, and district bureaucracies and constantly challenged by parents seeking greater and greater control over their children’s education, is frequently a drone working practically on remote control and it’s increasingly obvious to students. If no one else appears to respect their teacher, the students won’t either. So it will not help instill the attitude toward women discussed here.

I’m not going to go off on a long-winded tirade about the education system. Yet.

By: uglyblackjohn

uglyblackjohn — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 07:25:13 +0000

Interesting.
In many Black households, the mother is the only authority.
Do Blacks respond differently to women in the workplace or are other social issues causing them to resent a woman who is in charge?

By: octogalore

octogalore — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 04:22:49 +0000

“And, of course, it’s a vicious cycle: those jobs aren’t valued because they’re primarily done by women, and because women do them, they’re not valued.”

Partially. But let’s face it. They should be valued much more, both economically and in terms of respect (kind of redundant?), but even if that were the case, they wouldn’t appear on a reasonable CV for a leadership position.

Realistically, kids know how valuable parents are. But knowing someone is a parent does not tell us much about their ability to “lead” in the sense of leading a company or a geographical body. I know both women and men who are outstanding parents who could not and would not want to do these tasks, and also know people doing these tasks who are shitty parents.

Teaching — a similar analysis. There are some common skills to managing a class to other kinds of leadership, but as critical as teaching is, it’s not the same skill set as managing grown ups and taking responsibility for the economic performance of an entity.

By: oh!press pass

oh!press pass — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 04:19:26 +0000

I don't think any of us has enough power to have Palin do anything. All we can do is vote against or for her. Individual women have had power, but what are they do for women as a whole? oh!press pass

By: Lauren

Lauren — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 02:12:11 +0000

BadKitty, that hurts so bad. I hope you’re not right.

By: The Girl Detective

The Girl Detective — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 01:32:19 +0000

Despite the empty rhetoric to the contrary, our culture trains us to view teaching and mothering as easy work that doesn’t require skill; one glance at the average teacher’s salary – and the vehement defenses of those low salaries – can attest to that fact. So, while mothers and teachers are technically in authority positions, kids pick up on the various cues that those women aren’t valued by society as a whole. And, of course, it’s a vicious cycle: those jobs aren’t valued because they’re primarily done by women, and because women do them, they’re not valued.

By: Restructure!

Restructure! — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 01:13:22 +0000

Perhaps in a home where dad talks over mom, the kids know that mom is not the boss, even if she is the boss of them.

Yes, definitely. Even though I knew my dad was a sexist jerk since I was a child, I now catch myself not respecting my mom because my dad kept putting her “in her place” all those years. This is despite the fact that I always sided with my mom.

By: Thomas

Thomas — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 00:57:33 +0000

What I have learned as a parent is that kids take their cues from their parents: not from what they say, but from what they do. Perhaps mothers and female teachers don’t condition kids to accept women at leaders because the kids see that they are not treated as leaders. Perhaps in a home where dad talks over mom, the kids know that mom is not the boss, even if she is the boss of them. Perhaps is mom goes to meet with the teachers and dad’s the boss, they understand that meeting with the teachers isn’t that important.

The corollary to this is that, in our own homes, if we are to raise a generation beyond our limitations, if there are opposite sex parents, mom has to actually be the boss in the same sense that dad is. Maybe there’s some cis-het man out there for whom that’s easy. I was raised feminist, been married to a women’s college alum for a decade and I’m still learning to do my fair share of keeping track of household stuff and not to take up more than my fair share of conversation space.

By: BadKitty

BadKitty — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 00:53:50 +0000

… we should just let Palin take the fall on behalf of the next national female leader.

I think Hillary already did.