They cross partisan lines and every region of the country
Caroline Gleich may be new to politics, but she’s not new to sexist comments. Sadly, they’ve followed her from the outdoor recreation world right into her campaign for the U.S. Senate as the Democratic candidate on the Utah ballot.
On her LinkedIn page last week, she shared some of the comments she has received during her campaign. They include ones such as, “When has a woman solved any problem ever?” “Don’t you have to be out of high school to run for U.S. Senate,” “You’re evil and you look like you’re 12,” (she’s in her late 30s), “You should keep those sunglasses on you have crazy woman eyes,” “Why does your nose look like that?” “In a just world, you’d be outcast from society,” and “U should be having babies. You’re young.”
That’s just a smattering of what she shared, and I left out the comments that are explicitly sexual in nature. I’m sure there are many more she has not shared publicly.
Gleich, unfortunately, is not alone. In fact, sexism in politics is so rampant, I cannot think of a single woman in politics that I know who has not been the recipient of such comments. When Becky Lockhart was speaker of the Utah House and I was a freshman legislator (and getting messages where I was learning new four-letter words), she told me she got so many she made a game of it. She looked for messages where people said something new or called her something she had not been called before. Rarely (if ever) did she see something new.
The Barbara Lee Family Foundation, an organization dedicated to “women’s equality and representation” in American politics, has been researching women in politics for almost 25 years. Its 2021 report, “Putting Sexism in its Place on the Campaign Trail,” said “sexism in politics can take many forms, from double standards for women candidates, to undue criticisms of their appearance, voice, or clothing.”
The Lee Family Foundation also found a broad majority of voters believe female candidates face sexism while campaigning and are broadly supportive of women candidates speaking out in a calm, competent, professional way, as Gleich has done. Their findings ran counter to a long-standing misperception that staying silent in the face of sexism is a show of strength. Rather, the foundation found that “ignoring or being perceived as turning a blind eye to serious incidents of sexism can potentially result in blowback against women candidates.”
Sexism is not confined to a single party, nor a single geographic area. Kelly Dittmar, director of research at the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University, said last year that even when people are progressive in their politics, “their socialization around gender stereotypes and expectations is quite stubborn,” reported Vox. In 2008, for example, hecklers at a Hillary Clinton campaign event chanted “Iron my shirt,” while Sarah Palin on the Republican side faced so much sexist treatment that even Clinton’s aides came to her defense.
So what can be done?
There are research-tested ways to mitigate the effects of sexist comments and attitudes. Female candidates need to make it about the voters and how their work will help them. They need to be matter-of-fact and not defensive when sharing details about their personal lives, but don’t share too much! They need to be confident and share times when they have been successful in blending personal and professional lives, acknowledge and give credit to their support systems, take just the right kind of photographs and always be real. I think that list pretty much sums up the soliloquy in the “Barbie” movie, don’t you?
The bottom line really is this: Isn’t it time we all agree that sexism has no place in politics?
Originally published in the Deseret News
