Hillary Clinton becoming the first female nominee of a major political party is a cause for celebration for many, but mostly for those who are already part of her base. That includes elderly women in their 80s and 90s Cleveland.com spoke with.
All the celebrating comes down to how Hillary is a woman, and how it’s time. None of her policy views or proposals were mentioned, and it’s glaring.
“The United States, the world’s greatest democracy, has been slow to choose a woman leader,” is an idea all the women agreed with. “We of all people! We should have done it first, or early,” 90-year-old Virginia Havens said.
Hillary has made history, but that’s not the end of discussion. Those who say it’s time for a woman candidate or president say so because they are hung up with Congress having mostly men. It’s not just elderly women, but some younger women too.
Young women who go against their older counterparts are insulted by their elders and the media. Older Hillary supporters Gloria Steinem and Madeleine Albright made headlines and cost Hillary votes in New Hampshire with their comments. Laura Berick, 80, questioned if her granddaughters “think anything of it” when it comes to Hillary’s success. “They don’t know the struggle. They haven’t participated in any of the struggles for feminine rights. These kids are 13, 14, and 15 and it’s a norm. For them, Hillary is the norm,” she said.
Many millennials aren’t old enough to have lived through or remember the Clinton White House years. Many of them are recently finding out about Bill Clinton’s sex scandals, and as they learn more, it’s become a concern.
Those young women who support Hillary have to justify that they’re not voting for Hillary just because she is a woman. If that’s not their reasoning, then why do they have to justify it? Perhaps it’s because Hillary is also a candidate voters view unfavorably.
Those who say otherwise are regarded as sexist. This was particularly the case when Hillary ran against Bernie Sanders in the primary.
The elderly women believe that how well Hillary does depends on how men regard her. “Do men like to work for women?” Jane Kessler, 95, asked. “Will they take directions from women? If you’re the boss will they accept that?” She also questioned “if you can change attitudes that easily.” Chalking Hillary’s success or failure to how male voters view her is another form of sexism, especially when there are the factors of her policy views, favorability, or experience.
Cleveland.com also spoke with middle-school girls. Some expressed the idea that it was about time, and that it was important to ask women what they went through to get where they were. All the girls they asked didn’t feel gender should matter. They spoke of a candidate’s ideas.
All are valid reasons to support Hillary, or any other candidate. But they need not be mutually inclusive with her gender, as these young girls recognize. It’s not so much that they’re unaware of the struggle, but that they refuse to play victim in a society where men are in power. More importantly, it’s empowering to women, and all voters, to see a candidate based on her ideas rather than gender.
