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The Christianity Today women's blog provides news and analysis from the perspective of evangelical women. We cover news stories and books related to international justice and evangelism, pregnancy and sexual ethics, marriage, parenting, and celibacy, pop culture, health and body image, raising girls, and women in the church and parachurch.

Her.meneutics is edited by associate editor Katelyn Beaty and online editor Sarah Pulliam Bailey.

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October 25, 2010

Women Take Election Spotlight

Politicians like Sharron Angle, Michele Bachmann, and Barbara Boxer show it's possible to be powerful and feminine.

Alicia Cohn

Is the number of women in politics growing? It’s the type of question news talk-show hosts are asking now, thanks to competitive election races in states such as Delaware, Nevada, and California, where women are serious contenders in elections taking place next Tuesday.

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Republican candidate Sharron Angle isn’t pulling her punches in Nevada, currently running in a tight race against Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. Angle told Reid to “man up” in a recent debate, pushing him on issues such as health care and unemployment. Reid called Angle “extreme” in response, wisely steering clear of any gender-related advice. Vice President Joe Biden didn’t fare so well later in the week, lumping together two very different — and, according to him, “extreme” — female candidates as “these women.”

The other woman was Christine O’Donnell, Republican Senate candidate in Delaware. Reminiscent of Sarah Palin, who endorsed her, O’Donnell is the type of woman who has many fellow conservatives racing to disassociate themselves. O’Donnell hits a lot of strong points and is an outspoken Christian. But she also has made flamboyant statements — about witchcraft, masturbation, teaching evolution in schools, and the separation of church and state — that have raised eyebrows and set off “airhead” alerts across media. O’Donnell, like Palin and Rep. Michele Bachmann (Minn.), also has been noted for wearing pearls and peep-toed shoes and the color of her toenails. It seems that an emphasis on fashion accompanies female candidates who don’t fit the mold of the traditional political candidate.

Hair became a talking point in California’s Senate race, which happens to be between two women: incumbent Democrat Barbara Boxer and Republican candidate Carly Fiorina. Fiorina was caught on microphone criticizing Boxer's hair. The incident was blown up into a “cat fight,” which seems out of proportion to the level of impropriety involved, and more a result of how unusual it still is for two strong female candidates to compete. Beyond hair, the two women hold deep differences of opinion, particularly on off-shore oil drilling and Proposition 8. (Boxer supported the ruling overturning California voters’ decision to ban gay marriage, while Fiorina disagreed.)

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But at least nobody was called a “whore” — a term thrown around in reference to Meg Whitman, Republican candidate for governor in California, in a taped conversation between her Democratic competitor and his staff. Shockingly, the National Organization of Women’s California branch defended the word choice rather than the woman.

Media lightning rod Sarah Palin looms over this year’s elections, supporting Angle in Nevada along with other preferred candidates, both male and female, across the country. Some have wondered if Palin’s media presence in this year’s race has brought more attention to women in politics. Yet the trend is not really new: In the past decade alone, women held two of the most powerful positions in the world, with Condoleezza Rice and then Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State, and Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House. Interestingly enough, despite the number of high-profile Republican women running this year, the upcoming midterm election will mean a net loss of women in Congress with many Democratic women currently in office — several in senior positions — considered vulnerable.

Whether or not women-in-politics is a growing trend, I like that more female candidates are capturing our attention, and I hope having women in political positions is leading more female citizens to go out and vote. To me, it’s not about more women breaking into the good-old-boy realm of politics (though there is some of that going on) as much as pulling politics out of the backseat of our celebrity-obsessed society. I don’t know why it seems like conservative women are more comfortable these days being both outspoken women and outspoken candidates. Palin made enemies for her personality alone, pushing her Alaskan mommy-ness on the American public. But she does seem to be paving the way for female candidates who can disregard old anxieties about androgynous politics.

If more women are going to get into politics — which I believe it’s a good thing — then I’m all for embracing their femininity. God created men and women differently, and, as I can personally attest, women hold political stances just as firmly as men, regardless of whether they also paint their toenails (O’Donnell) or drive a truck (Fiorina).

Voter turnout in the U.S. usually tops out at about 60 percent. I hope more people — especially more women — pay attention to the elections this year. If taking time to look up a candidate’s record starts with Googling a hairstyle or a Cosmopolitan spread (e.g., Senator Scott Brown, because men are also capable of surprising us), that’s just fine with me.

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Posted by Katelyn Beaty on October 25, 2010 11:50 AM

Comments

Interesting article, but what exactly does "pushing her Alaskan mommy-ness on the American public" mean? The phrase is hard to decipher, but it sounds as if Palin was supposed to hide her children in a closet or something.

Regarding a piece about how women are changing the political landscape, it's worth noting that men are rarely accused of "pushing their daddy-ness," no matter how many times they trot the kiddies out for photo ops or let them be interviewed on TV or speak at conventions.

Posted By: Gina | October 25, 2010 12:03 PM

"Palin made enemies for her personality alone, pushing her Alaskan mommy-ness on the American public."

Ridiculous statement. No one said that Obama openly displayed his Chicago Daddyness when his daughters appeared with him on stage.

Posted By: Joe | October 25, 2010 12:46 PM

Hey Gina and Joe,
You latch onto a good point. By "pushing," though, in this context I mean being forthright. As a political candidate and now as a power figure on the political scene, Palin defined herself as a mother in a much more public way than is typical. Many (arguably, most) other women involved in politics--Bachmann and Pelosi, for instance--are also mothers but tend to keep their "mommy-ness" away from the public eye. I believe that any mom who is also in politics should be able to make her own choice whether to be a mom in a public or more private way, and I think Palin exemplifies a mom who chose the former and has taken a lot of heat for it.
Alicia Cohn

Posted By: Alicia Cohn | October 25, 2010 2:33 PM

Thanks for the clarification, Alicia. "Forthright" does sound a lot better. I think we Christians are so used to having "push" and "impose" flung at us as insults every time we open our mouths, the words automatically make us cringe.

And Palin never did anything like Mary Fallin in Oklahoma, trotting out her motherly credentials in a debate against a childless opponent. Now that could be defined as pushing.

Posted By: Gina | October 25, 2010 5:01 PM

The major Senate race in California features two women, Cary Fiorina and Barbara Boxer, and there is a woman in the gubernatorial race as well, Meg Whitman. I won't reveal where I personally stand, politically, but it does SEEM like there are more women running and winning. However, the percentage of women represented among governors, state representatives, and in the House and Senate is still pathetically low.

Posted By: Robyn | October 26, 2010 9:57 AM

I'm intrigued by women who proclaim they are good Christian women while espousing the social Darwinian policies that would make the late Ayn Rand proud.

Posted By: Dan Crawford | October 26, 2010 10:07 AM

I think it's great that more women are running but (political views aside) I just don't find many of these new women very appealing as leaders either from a Christian or a secular perspective. I think it's fine if women want to look feminine on the campaign trail, but I would hope for more civility and experience/knowledge than many of these women have shown the public to date. Being strong does not mean having to be snarky and throwing around trite phrases like "man-up" at your opponents. It also does not mean constantly looking for ways to create publicity and/or cause division rather than focusing on issues and moving the country forward. I'm disappointed that these newer candidates are looking a lot less like Hilary Clintons and Condaleeza Rices and more and more like Sarah Palins.

Posted By: Pam | October 26, 2010 9:05 PM

@ Pam, you hit the nail on the head. However, the operative word is "Christian". Politics is a sleazy, down in the gutter business. There is no way you can maintain your christian values and/or integrity in politics.

I find that most people that actually run for political office have very little integrity to begin with. So the newcomers that have thrown their hat into the political arena and claim to be Christians, more likely than not ARE not.

Posted By: Dee | October 29, 2010 10:59 AM

@ Gina
Ridiculous statement. No one said that Obama openly displayed his Chicago Daddyness when his daughters appeared with him on stage.
---------------------------------------------------------

I thought this article was regarding Women in the Political Spotlight. What does the President have to do with this?

Posted By: Lady Dee | October 29, 2010 11:04 AM

"I don’t know why it seems like conservative women are more comfortable these days being both outspoken women and outspoken candidates."

--Perhaps because decades of feminists paved way?

"But she [Palin] does seem to be paving the way for female candidates who can disregard old anxieties about androgynous politics."

-- Perhaps because Hillary Clinton (and lots of other women) successfully endured decades of critiques about their hair and clothes before her?

"how unusual it still is for two strong female candidates to compete"

-- Almost 20 years ago when I came back to South Florida, I turned on the tv one night to see the two candidates for my U.S. Congressional district debating. Both the D and the R candidates were strong, intelligent women, and they were debating in Spanish (not through interpreters). And I thought, what a great country we live in! Yes, they also debated in English on another channel. Both women were completely bilingual. The world has been changing for the better for a long time. It's nice to see some conservative women finally joining in, even if I strongly disagree with their politics.

Posted By: Christian Lawyer | October 30, 2010 4:01 PM

The greatest power ever ganted to women by God Almighty is motherhood, period, end of discussion! Actually any women trying to be otherwise only pleases the one that is intend in more and more destroying the back bone of this nation under God, the traditional American Biblical home! Yes, as now more women in America live without a man around than do? Powerful and feminine, as politicians and even soldiers in faraway pieces of sand, leaving little babies behind? God forbid that Christian women speak that way!

Posted By: H. D. Schmidt | October 30, 2010 5:37 PM

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