Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Reflection: Scandal, Samantha Powers- sexism in politics

http://jezebel.com/new-un-ambassador-interviewed-about-diplomacy-diapers-1440666837
http://jezebel.com/scandal-lisa-kudrow-goes-ham-in-an-epic-speech-on-sexi-1460876002

I came across these two pages on Jezebel about the problems women in politics face. They are completely relevant to our conversation the other day, and hopefully mean that sexism in politics is ready to be discussed in a serious. about. It's a conversation that needs to happen on a national level, and especially a conversation for politicians to have on a public platform. The statements Lisa Kudrow's character makes remain true for most female politicians, and makes it a powerful statement for a primetime show. The conversation about sexism in politics also ties nicely into the recent mayoral elections which Bill de Blasio won. There have been over 100 mayors in NYC and not one of them has been a woman. While this trend is true of many political positions in our country, a city as progressive and diverse as NYC almost makes the lack of a female mayor worse. Also, "There are nearly 400,000 more women than men in New York (NYC dept of planning)." I wonder if there could be some energy and organization between women (and men) of NYC to advocate for a female mayor. Regarding the Samantha Powers segment by the Today Show, it's so sad (but not surprising) that our own UN ambassador's interview was belittled with the word diaper appearing on the screen. This is a woman who has an incredibly important and powerful job, yet there is such a focus on her ability to balance her children and work. The author raised the point would the word diaper have appeared on screen if the ambassador was a man, the answer is most likely, "no." Maybe there will be an ability to separate the fact that a woman has a powerful job and children and we can focus on her job, the aspect of her life which should truly concern us, the public.

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