Last week, mymanifesta’s post got me thinking about the prospects of Hillary Clinton, and other women for that matter, running for office in 2016. Women like Hillary, Elizabeth Warren, and Cathy McMorris Rodgers have all been in the spotlight recently for the moves they are making in their respective parties. But while they may be getting praise from various party members on Capitol Hill for their political opinions, the media is still fixated on their appearance.
Objectification of female politicians is nothing new, but with many potential prospects of women being on the ticket for 2016, its important that we understand the influence the discourse on female appearance has on politician’s success.
A study released in 2013 found that media reporting on a female politician’s appearance has a negative influence on their perception of her electability- whether the appearance was evaluated as positive or negative. Electability includes “the horserace, her favorability, her likelihood to be seen as possessing positive traits, and how likely voters are to vote for her.”
This surprised me because I would think maybe one physical description would create more negativity than another- but the data shows its about equal. The media is quick to comment on the physical beauty of all female politicians, meaning that for as long as we continue that discourse women will always have another disadvantage to male politicians. Hillary has been in the political spotlight for more time than most politicians and from her outfits, to weight, to hair she has had her appearance picked apart. How many times have you heard about Bill Clinton, George Bush, or Barack Obama’s appearance?
However, the study shows their as some positives coming from women who push back against this sexism. The study explains,
Some respondents heard a defense from Jane Smith [the test subject female president], saying, “My appearance is not news and does not deserve to be covered. Rarely do they cover men in this fashion and by doing so they depict women as less serious and having less to offer voters.”…in both cases, when they heard that, their votes flipped back. Indeed, Jane Smith gained her first lead of the entire campaign.
Female politicians need to stand up to the media criticism against themselves and other women in office. Hillary Clinton has been known to do this. When asked about a photo where she wasn’t wearing makeup she said,
“I feel so relieved to be at the stage I’m at in my life right now, because if I want to wear my glasses, I’m wearing my glasses. If I want to pull my hair back, I’m pulling my hair back. At some point it’s just not something that deserves a whole lot of time and attention. If others want to worry about it, I’ll let them do the worrying for a change.”
And as mymanifesta pointed out, sexism in D.C. may also back this idea up as well, because if politicians make sexist comments, it may allow women on Capital Hill to opportunity to stand up against it. We need to also ignore this public discourse and not feed into the commodification of female politicians. It doesn’t come down to how well she will look in office, but how great of a job she will do.
ShoutOut! James Madison University 