Robert Reich -- Hillary "cannot run on being the first woman to be president..."

[TheBlackAdder]

70. I took a "Woman in Politics" course, there are a lot of factors Reich is right about.

Women are at a disadvantage in any election, with Republicans only holding about 20% elected officials, where Democrats are in the 30's. Women are higher in statehouse offices, but on the national scene they are at a disadvantage.

Identifying as a woman, as a primary selling point, lowers a female candidate's electability, as many men will counter vote.

In a national setting, women have twice as many obstacles to overcome, especially in rural and evangelical centers of the country. Many areas of the country do not believe a woman should be president. Just look back at the ERA and how it was the female vote that defeated it!

Also, highlighting appearance, femininity, etc. shows at least a 5% drop in electability. This is even if something POSITIVE is mentioned about a candidate, any mention of clothing, hair, appearance, femininity NEGATIVLY impacts a woman candidate. Expect a whole pile of 'Gee, she looks nice" statements from FOX about this... because they know the impact of femininity in a national election.

The emphasis has to be on doing the job, the qualifications, the sharpness of mind, and NOT exposing any feminine traits, such as crying, etc. If men cry, it might be seen as a positive, for a woman--it's ALWAYS a negative. Criticism about being a shrew, emotional, impulsive, etc... are ALL negatives that are used against women running for office.

Like it or not, that's the reality of the nation's only women's political research center, at Rutgers-Eagleton.