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When the suffragist Victoria Woodhull ran for president in 1872 under the banner of the Equal Rights Party, the New York Herald editorially praised her call for women's right to vote. But along with other New York newspapers, the Herald could not resist demeaning references to Woodhull's appearance and her attire. One Herald headline described her as "the petticoat politician."
More than a century later, press coverage of women seeking the White House continues to dwell on what they wear and how they look far more than press coverage of male candidates, according to Erika Falk, an expert on political communications at Johns Hopkins University in Washington. A New York Times story on Rep. Patricia Schroeder's waters-testing in 1987 described the veteran Colorado congresswoman as attired in a "breezy blue outfit." In 1999, The Washington Post noted that former Transportation Secretary Elizabeth Dole wore "a bright red suit" for one of her candidacy-exploring speeches.
Men's monochromatic business suits may provide less room for fashion commentary, but Falk says the press' obsession with women's clothes is part and parcel of a trivialization of female candidates — even those who seek the nation's highest office like Schroeder or Dole with solid records in political life.
"Women get less coverage than men, and they get less focus on issues than men," says Falk, whose new book, Women for President, examines press coverage of eight candidates from Woodhull through Dole. "Women who want to portray themselves as knowledgeable about issues are going to have a harder time because their policy positions are going to get less coverage."
Falk, who helps run the master's degree program in communications at Johns Hopkins, began researching women's presidential campaigns after realizing that Hillary Rodham Clinton was far from the first woman to run for the presidency. Woodhull was followed four years later by another early feminist, Belva Lockwood. Besides Dole and Schroeder, the list of major-party aspirants in modern times includes Republican Sen. Margaret Chase Smith (1964) and Democratic Reps. Shirley Chisholm (1972) and Carol Mosley Braun (2004). The book also discusses Lenora Fulani, an African-American psychologist who as the nominee of the New Alliance Party in 1988 became the first woman to be listed on the ballot in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
"Women have been running for president since before suffrage," Falk explains. "This lost history: why is it?" Her answer: the gap in press coverage and the dismissive tone of any coverage the female candidates do receive.
The coverage gap also discourages other women from even trying, Falk believes. "Women or girls who read these press accounts may decide that they have less chance of winning and are less likely to put themselves forward as candidates," she says.
The Washington Post found former Transportation Secretary Elizabeth Dole's “bright red suit” worthy of mention in an article in 1999. (AP Photo/Nell Redmond)
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Clinton herself was a victim of the coverage gap in the first month of her candidacy, Falk says. After Barack Obama and Clinton both declared their candidacies in January 2007, Obama had 59 headlined stories in six major newspapers compared to 36 for Clinton — even though Clinton had a 10-percentage-point lead in polls at the time.
Many observers agree that Clinton has been ill served by the media's coverage of her campaign. "The media clearly comment on different aspects of women as opposed to men," says Kay Schlozman, a political science professor at Boston College. "There's also evidence that the media are harder on women candidates." Has that been true in Clinton's case? "On balance, I think the answer is yes," she responds.
But Georgetown University Professor of Government Stephen Wayne, an expert on the presidency, says Clinton's problems with the press stem in part from her early front-runner status. "The media like to make it a contest," he explains. "So they put the front-runner under greater scrutiny, as they are now doing with Obama." In addition, "Clinton has a history, which is not universally viewed as favorable. The press has every reason to explore that."
Some observers also discount the impact of stories about Clinton's clothes, hairdo or personal appearance. "If someone mentions that she wore a yellow jacket, I wouldn't interpret that as sexist," says journalist Robert Parry, founder of the left-leaning consortiumnews.com. "I think that's overdoing it."
Falk says "it's hard to know" whether any of the earlier female presidential candidates would have done better with more respectful press coverage of their campaigns. But in Clinton's case, she says, "it's hard to imagine that it wouldn't affect her in some way."
Bibliography
Books
Clift, Eleanor, and Tom Brazaitis, Madam President: Shattering the Last Glass Ceiling, Scribner, 2000.
A husband-wife team of veteran journalists and pundits gives an informational overview of the situation of female elites in electoral politics. Using anecdotes, gossipy tidbits and commentary, they challenge the so-called old-boy network and expose the impact of feminism on the inside-the-Beltway crowd.
Dodson, Debra L., The Impact of Women in Congress, Oxford University Press, 2006.
A former visiting scholar at Rutgers University's Center for American Women and Politics details the impact of the increased number of women in Congress in the 1990s. Includes 14-page bibliography. For an earlier, journalistic account, see Karen Foerstel and Herbert N. Foerstel, Climbing the Hill: Gender Conflict in Congress (Praeger, 1996).
Dolan, Kathleen A., Voting for Women: How the Public Evaluates Women Candidates, Westview, 2004.
A University of Wisconsin history professor recounts the history of women in U.S. politics and examines contemporary evaluations of women as candidates by voters. Includes chapter notes, nine-page bibliography.
Evans, Sara M., Born for Liberty: A History of Women in America, Free Press, 1989.
A historian at the University of Minnesota provides a compact account of the role that women have played in politics and society in America from before the European settlement through the 1980s. Includes chapter notes, six-page bibliographical essay. Evans updated the history in Tidal Wave: How Women Changed America at Century's End (Free Press, 2002).
Falk, Erika, Women for President: Media Bias in Eight Campaigns, University of Illinois Press, 2008.
The book details media bias against eight women who have run for president from Equal Rights Party candidate Victoria Woodhull in 1872 through Republican Elizabeth Dole in 2000. Falk is associate chair for the master's degree program in communications at Johns Hopkins University. Includes chapter notes.
Martin, Janet M., The Presidency and Women: Promise, Performance, and Illusion, Texas A&M Press, 2003.
Focusing on the "second wave of feminism" that occurred in the 1960s and '70s, a professor of political science at Bowdoin University examines the influence on gender-related policies and appointments that first ladies had on presidents from John F. Kennedy to Jimmy Carter.
Rosenthal, Cindy Simon (ed.), Women Transforming Congress, University of Oklahoma Press, 2003.
Seventeen chapters examine the extent to which the increased number of women in Congress has transformed the institution. Includes notes, 35-page list of references. Rosenthal is director and curator of the Carl Albert Center, University of Oklahoma.
Schultz, Jeffrey D., and Laura van Assendelft, Encyclopedia of Women in American Politics, Oryx Press, 1999.
The single-volume reference provides comprehensive coverage of women's participation in U.S. politics. Includes biographical information on women in office; historical speeches and documents; and a timeline on women's participation in the political process.
Books by and About Hillary Rodham Clinton
Hillary Rodham Clinton's autobiography Living History (Simon & Schuster, 2003) tells the story of her life from her upbringing in suburban, middle-class America in the 1950s through her transformation from student activist in the 1960s and '70s to first lady in the 1990s. Written while she was first lady, It Takes a Village: And Other Lessons Children Teach Us (Touchstone, 1996) presents Clinton's vision of a society in which individuals and groups outside the family work together to meet children's needs. Two full-length biographies by well-regarded journalists appeared in 2007: A Woman in Charge: The Life of Hillary Rodham Clinton (Knopf), written by Carl Bernstein, best known for his role covering Watergate for The Washington Post; and Her Way: The Hopes and Ambitions of Hillary Rodham Clinton (Little, Brown) by New York Times investigative reporters Jeff Gerth and Don Van Natta Jr. Sally Bedell Smith's For Love of Politics: Bill and Hillary Clinton: The White House Years (Random House, 2007) examines the dynamic of what the well-known biographer describes as the Clintons' unconventional "co-presidency." For anti-Clinton titles, see L. Brent Bozell and Tim Graham, Whitewash: What the Media Won't Tell You About Hillary Clinton, but Conservatives Will (Crown Forum, 2007), a criticism of Clinton's use of the media by analysts at the conservative Media Research Center; and Bay Buchanan, The Extreme Makeover of Hillary (Rodham) Clinton (Regnery, 2007), a conservative critique of Clinton's life by the CNN political analyst and former U.S. treasurer.
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