Week 6

I checked out a blog called Women Reflect on The Gender Issue and The Role It Plays in Politics. The person who posted this blog discussed how they think it is great that Hilary Clinton attempted to run for president. In this post, they added comments that were in the New York Times on the day of the post back in May. Some of the comments were things like “many credit Mrs. Clinton with laying down a new marker for what a woman can accomplish in a campaign” and “others say Mrs. Clinton was able to convert the sexism she faced on the trail into votes and donations”. This post focused on how other women view Hilary Clinton and her struggles to get a chance at a run for the Whiteshouse.

http://dekerivers.wordpress.com/2008/05/19/women-reflect-on-the-gender-issue-and-the-role-it-plays-in-politics/

It was nice to read the comments that other women had to say about Hilary Clinton without having to read the entire article from the New York Times.

Week 5: Should women hold power?

One day I would like to see a woman in the Whitehouse as long as it is the right woman. I would like to see what a woman could do with our country. I am not saying that I am anti Sarah Palin, but I don’t feel that someone like her should be in the Whitehouse. I don’t agree where she stands on most issues, but most of all, I don’t agree with a woman who has young children taking on such a huge responsibility.
Sarah Palin has a young child with Down syndrome. It takes a lot of time and energy to take care of a baby especially one with special needs. Palin opposes explicit sex education programs and believes that sex should wait until marriage. She has a 17 year old daughter who is about to have a baby. Obviously Palin does not have enough time to focus on her family and she does not have the ability to get her own child to believe in her views. I find it unfortunate that Sarah Palin may miss out on great milestone in her children’s lives. I don’t believe that a woman should have to choose between having a family or having a career, but Palin is young enough to have another shot at the Whitehouse.
In my opinion, I think that John McCain is using the gender of Sarah Palin to advance his career to the highest level. A lot of Americans may have been ready for a change with a female president and I think that McCain took advantage of the situation. He chose a running mate that clearly does not have enough experience for the job, but at least she wears a skirt. I also feel that John McCain is hoping to gain the voters who may have voted for Hilary Clinton based on her gender by having Sarah Palin by his side.

Week 4: Is Sarah Palin hurting the campaign?

Sarah Palin is under investigation for firing Alaska’s Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan. Palin claims that the decision was due to lack of Monegan’s budget priorities. Others feel that Palin fired the commissioner because of the messy divorce he had with her sister even though she has denied this claim. Alaska senator Hollis French is running the investigation on Sarah Palin and plans on releasing the final report on the investigation at the end of the month. Even though this happened before she was picked as a running mate, I personally think that this may affect the election. Palins actions may have been completely professional, however, the decision of her firing her ex brother-in-law kind of looks like a petty spiteful move on her part.
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/Story?id=5702697&page=2

Others feel that Tina Fey may be hurting the McCain/Palin campaign. The October Rasmussen poll found that 43 percent of independents say Sarah Palin is hurting John McCain’s chances to win the presidency. 35 percent see her as helping while 22 percent feel that there has been no impact to Tina Fey poking fun of Sarah Palin. An advisor for the McCain campaign claims that the “Saturday Night Live” skits are dismissive toward Palin while those of Hilary Clinton are substantive. I don’t think it really matters how “Saturday Night Live” does a parody on anyone, because it is all in good fun. This country does not need to be so serious all the time and besides, it’s not like this is the first time that SNL has poke fun at any election. Sarah Palin has not really taken any offense to how Tina Fey portrays her. She claims to be a fan of Fey and is grateful to be able to give her some funny material. If you ask me, the only one who can hurt John McCain’s campaign is himself.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/oct/09/as-palins-star-dims-fey-turns-superstar/

Women, Power and Politics . NOW on PBS

Women, Power and Politics . NOW on PBS

Women in Politics

I watched a video called Women, Power and Politics. Watching this video, I learned that the United States ranks 69th in the world in percentage of women holding political power and that most developed countries are ahead of us. Only 16% of our congress is made up of women and we only have 8 female governors. As we grow as a nation, more women are gaining political power, but it seems like it is happening at a very slow rate. If over 50% of this country’s population are women, then why not more women in power? Rwanda has a greater percentage of females elected to the lower house of parliament than in any other nation in the world. They believe that women are better at maintaining peace and are less likely to be involved in corruption over men. In 2006 Chile elected their first female president, Michelle Bachelet Jeria. Chile went from a democracy to a dictatorship then back to a democracy and now has a female president. During Jeria’s term, she plans on working to get equal pay for women. I would like to see our country work on issues that will benefit or change how women are viewed on our society, but we are too concerned with what rights women should or should not have when it comes to their own bodies. Chile doesn’t seem to mind that their president has been divorced, is a single mother who had a child out of wedlock or has no religious values. These are things that our society will judge instead of seeing the abilities that the person is capable of. Michelle Bachelet Jeria has been ranked the 25th in the list of 100 most powerful women even though her personal life is less than perfect. I think we should be able to set personal things aside and focus on the ability of ones work whether it is from a man or woman.