Hattie Wyatt Caraway, the first woman to be elected to the US Senate (D. ARK, 1931)
FOF Meg Whitman, former CEO and President of eBay, is running in the Republican primary for Governor of California. Something occurred to me as I was listening to the news about her: We don’t hear about women politicians having affairs with a.) their interns b.) high-priced “call boys” c.) other women in bathrooms. They don’t jet off to South America to see secret boyfriends and tell their staffs they’re hiking alone. They don’t become pregnant with a lover’s child. They don’t divorce their long-time husbands who are terminally ill.
Women politicians concentrate on doing their jobs, while men politicians have the uncanny ability to concentrate on their libidos at the same time they’re running cities, states, countries and nations. (Who said men aren’t multi-taskers?) And when women can’t—or don’t want to—to concentrate on their jobs (like Sarah Palin), they quit.
Women are problem solvers. They’re inclusive. They love mentoring other women. They share. They’re willing to surround themselves with smart people, even with those who disagree with them.
Imagine if FOF women ran the US Government? What if Hillary had become president, and all the Senators and Congressmen were FOF women like Olympia Snowe and Barbara Boxer?
I think we’d move mountains.
0 Responses to “Hats off to hattie”
M says:
Hi Geri,
Don’t mean to belabor the point, but you might want to make a small correction on your 6/5 post. Meg Whitman is a Republican running for governor in the California Republican primary.
I hope I wasn’t too harsh in my earlier post but I do feel strongly about this issue. I do enjoy your blog and appreciate all the work you put into it.
I agree with Susan that having the right to vote is obviously to be celebrated, but as we all know, with rights there come responsibilities. Unfortunately, there are plenty of women who don’t take the time to thoroughly study currents events and candidates for office before running into the voting booth to vote for someone just because she’s a woman. And Geri, your comment about women moving mountains
perpetuates this kind of unreasoned thinking.
You said, “Women are problem solvers. They’re inclusive. They love mentoring other women. They share. They’re willing to surround themselves with smart people, even with those who disagree with them.” I’m sorry but this is such a callow generalization, it’s embarrassing to read.
I prefer to think of men and women as individuals who are all deserving of my respect until they do something to prove me wrong. I guess I’m just not into “group think”.
I agree with you and did not intend to imply that we should vote for someone because of their gender. Nevertheless, I think we need more women in elected office.
I agree with everyone (for once)… but wanted to remind all that the 19th Amendment passed the Congress on 4 June 1919; it was added (finally) to the US Constitution on August 26, 1920 & women had the right to vote in November 1920 elections.
Hats off to Hattie & her friends, indeed. Thank you to them as well.
OK – Let’s look at this from the global perspective: What is the difference between WHY women and men run for public office? IMHO the basic difference is that while men might start out wanting to ‘be the change’, they very rapidly turn into ego-driven monomaniacs. There are so many people out there sucking up to them (ok, don’t go there) that they can’t fail to enter the delusional world of “me/24-7”. Everyone caters to them to bask in the circle of power. There are a lot of men who get into it by skipping the ‘be the change’ state completely and getting right into the ‘head into the trough’ status (John McCain comes to mind). They feed on power and people sucking up to them. In general, women start and stay in the ‘want to help people’ state and part of the reason is that by and large (sorry to say) very few women get into places of real power (‘cept folks like Nancy and Hillary), so they don’t have any ‘trading stamps’ (so to speak). That tends to keep women politicians more honest, I think, but I also think that more women are more honest with themselves about why they are there and what the job really is.
0 Responses to “Hats off to hattie”
M says:
Hi Geri,
Don’t mean to belabor the point, but you might want to make a small correction on your 6/5 post. Meg Whitman is a Republican running for governor in the California Republican primary.
I hope I wasn’t too harsh in my earlier post but I do feel strongly about this issue. I do enjoy your blog and appreciate all the work you put into it.
M says:
I agree with Susan that having the right to vote is obviously to be celebrated, but as we all know, with rights there come responsibilities. Unfortunately, there are plenty of women who don’t take the time to thoroughly study currents events and candidates for office before running into the voting booth to vote for someone just because she’s a woman. And Geri, your comment about women moving mountains
perpetuates this kind of unreasoned thinking.
You said, “Women are problem solvers. They’re inclusive. They love mentoring other women. They share. They’re willing to surround themselves with smart people, even with those who disagree with them.” I’m sorry but this is such a callow generalization, it’s embarrassing to read.
I prefer to think of men and women as individuals who are all deserving of my respect until they do something to prove me wrong. I guess I’m just not into “group think”.
Geri says:
Hi M,
I agree with you and did not intend to imply that we should vote for someone because of their gender. Nevertheless, I think we need more women in elected office.
Geri
Susan says:
I agree with everyone (for once)… but wanted to remind all that the 19th Amendment passed the Congress on 4 June 1919; it was added (finally) to the US Constitution on August 26, 1920 & women had the right to vote in November 1920 elections.
Hats off to Hattie & her friends, indeed. Thank you to them as well.
Duchesse says:
Women in elected office do not seem to view sexual prowess as a symbol of their power and a deserved ‘reward’ of office.
Toby Wollin says:
OK – Let’s look at this from the global perspective: What is the difference between WHY women and men run for public office? IMHO the basic difference is that while men might start out wanting to ‘be the change’, they very rapidly turn into ego-driven monomaniacs. There are so many people out there sucking up to them (ok, don’t go there) that they can’t fail to enter the delusional world of “me/24-7”. Everyone caters to them to bask in the circle of power. There are a lot of men who get into it by skipping the ‘be the change’ state completely and getting right into the ‘head into the trough’ status (John McCain comes to mind). They feed on power and people sucking up to them. In general, women start and stay in the ‘want to help people’ state and part of the reason is that by and large (sorry to say) very few women get into places of real power (‘cept folks like Nancy and Hillary), so they don’t have any ‘trading stamps’ (so to speak). That tends to keep women politicians more honest, I think, but I also think that more women are more honest with themselves about why they are there and what the job really is.
Geri says:
Bravo
Love your perspective!
Geri
Preppy 101 says:
Good Point. I’d never really given thought to the moral compass of women politicians vs. men! xoxo