Michele Bachmann: Inching Women and the US Presidency Forward

In countries around the world women are prime ministers and presidents, and although women have made headway in corporations and at the highest levels of educational institutions, and in science and in engineering, no woman has ever been president of the United States.

The 2008 election was a watershed with Hillary Clinton as the almost-Democratic nominee and Sarah Palin as the Republican vice-presidential nominee, but if women are to continue to compete at the highest level of American politics, women must continue to run for president.

Michele Bachmann, Republican congresswoman from Minnesota, inched women and the US presidency forward with the announcement of her presidential campaign, just as Hillary Clinton did with her bid in 2008. To level the political playing field for women it is an imperative to have women candidates in every presidential election. Research shows that the more women who run for president the less that gender matters because women will not be seen as novelty candidates. Still, the barriers are more daunting for women candidates than they are for men. When a reporter asked an Iowan if she preferred Palin or Bachmann she replied Bachmann because she “had already raised her family.” This is not a criterion by which male politicians ever are measured.

If a woman who is running for president asked me for advice, be a “FORCE” and employ this advice:

1. Forcefully announce! That is, make a forceful announcement of your candidacy. Don’t “test the waters” — hold your nose, jump in and declare you are running. “I’m in to win” not “let’s see how this goes.” Bachmann described herself as a “bold choice” — that’s a forceful start.

2. Out-smart everyone. Know your facts. When women don’t know something, it is magnified by the press, public and pundits. Women candidates will long have to guard against the “Palin-ization” of their candidacies. Bachmann has to get her facts straight or she will be especially vulnerable to this.

3. Revitalize. You will need stamina. By the time most women run for office, they are not young, so to take care of yourself. Clinton is 15 years Obama’s senior, but she did not lack for energy on the presidential campaign trail and has been a global warrior as Secretary of State. Bachmann appears youthful and energetic. Good. She’s going to need to be.

4. Cut a predictable figure in your clothes. Don’t go changing because your change will make the news before or instead of your ideas. Women’s dress is more complicated than men’s, since there is an established male uniform for male politicians (dark suit and red or blue tie) but women have more options: bright colors or subdued; skirt or slacks. And typically, women’s hair is more complicated (long, short, to color or not to color). Pick easy and flattering clothing and hairstyles and commit. Bachmann appears to have her wardrobe and hairstyle choices stabilized.

5. Exhibit rhetorical elasticity. This is the ability to move from a masculine to a feminine style of speaking with ease. This is especially important for women candidates whose toughness is scrutinized. Bachmann is able to move from the more tender narrative style, as she did when she remembered “standing in the kitchen of my grandma's house on Lafayette Street in Waterloo listening to my dad, a Democrat debating the merits of the Great Society with my grandmother, a Republican” while also offering the reality check that she is not “pining for the past” with her tender recollections of a more innocent and economically stable Waterloo, Iowa.

6. Slough off media criticism. It will come. It never pays to complain about the media in the midst of a campaign. You may win over your base, but you may make an enemy of a cadre of powerful people. Fox News Host Chris Wallace’s “Are you a flake?” in June was an uncivil question, but we live in an uncivil world and presidential candidate Bachmann will have plenty more flaky questions before the final footnote on her presidential bid is written.

Bachmann has a long way to go, as do the other candidates for president in 2012. For women and the US presidency, it is good that she is making the journey.

News and Issues, Style and Fashion, Politics, Government, Senior Women Web, Articles, Authors, Nichola Gutgold Add comments

Michele Bachmann: Inching Women and the US Presidency Forward

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