Hillary Clinton dropped in polls after influential feminist activists Madeleine Albright and Gloria Steinem spoke in her favor last month. Their statements inadvertently caused a backlash from young feminist voters, pushing their support towards Bernie Sanders.
The discussion of Albright’s and Steinem’s comments playing a role in Clinton’s campaign has made its way onto the Santa Rosa Junior College campus, engaging students and professors in an ever-present dialogue about feminism and politics.
“[Hillary’s] using her femininity as an excuse to get feminine voters, and I think that’s a dirty tactic,” said self-proclaimed feminist student Megan Holland, 20. “By supporting their statements, she’s insulting everyone because she is basically saying that if you are voting for anyone else, then you aren’t really a feminist, and personally I wouldn’t vote for her after that.”
At a rally in New Hampshire last Saturday, Albright took to the stage and gave a speech emphasizing the importance of electing a woman to the highest office in this country.
Albright spoke of the progression and goals of feminism. “It’s not done, and you have to help. And just remember, there’s a special place in hell for women who don’t help each other,” she said.
Clinton set up her campaign to appeal to the large base of millennial women voters, and heavily relies on those votes.
Albright’s speech set off a negative reaction towards Clinton from millennial feminists, as they saw the comment as derogatory to them and the feminist movement.
“What she said is not right,” said Siobhan Williams, 21, a self-proclaimed feminist and SRJC student. “You can’t vote for someone just because they’re a woman. Bernie Sanders is a feminist too, if not more supportive of the cause than Hillary. You have to look at what they stand for, not just their gender.”
Anne Exton, SRJC women’s history instructor, offered up her opinion on Albright’s comments. “Albright seems like a pretty straightforward case of the generational divide. In her day, the glass ceiling was so pronounced that any woman running with even a remote chance at becoming president of the U.S. was a miracle and should be heartily supported for the sake of furthering all women’s opportunities.”
The biggest issue raised is not whether Clinton is a feminist, but how supporting her, in light of the comments by Albright, impacts feminist values.
Hannah Cagle, founder of SRJC’s Feminists United club, said, “Not simply supporting Hillary because of her gender is in itself inherently feminist; the concept of choice, choosing which candidate to vote for based on merit and not determining merit based on gender, is what previous generations of feminists, like Albright and Steinem, fought for, despite them currently condemning young feminists for not supporting Clinton.”
Clinton backlash grew in the days after Gloria Steinem asked “Where are the boys?” in an interview with Bill Maher, talking about Clinton’s lack of younger women supporters. “The boys are with Bernie,” she said.
Virginia Kerr, vice president of student life and member of Feminists United, was surprised by Steinem’s comments. “It’s really amazing that somebody like Gloria Steinem, who basically was the creator of second wave feminism, would say something like that. It was really devastating as a feminist,” she said. “She’s assuming that young women are not supporting Hillary because she’s a woman, and implying that we have an internalized hatred of our own gender.”
Days later on Feb. 9, the shift of women voters towards Sanders was shown as he won the New Hampshire primary with 55 percent of women voters, over Clinton’s 44 percent.
Sanders also won 89 percent of voters ages 18-29, whereas Clinton only received 16 percent of votes from that same age category.
Women’s studies major Adriel Ahern offered one explanation of why this might have happened. “When it comes to Hillary, though, for myself and many of my female peers, being a woman does not overcome her conservative politics, her pandering to big businesses, or the fact that if she is on the ballot, many liberal-leaning conservatives will never vote for her, taking potential votes away from the liberal candidate,” she said. “I think younger feminists, myself included, are more interested in voting for a progressive socialist white man than a conservative liberal white woman.”
SRJC communication studies instructor Mary Pierce brought a different point of view to the discussion. “As a dedicated, life-long feminist, I admire courageous women who challenge the status quo and break through cultural and historical barriers. Feminism is about equality, which we still struggle to achieve in so many ways,” she said.
“It is hard to imagine what that struggle felt like for a powerful player like Madeline Albright, and I can understand that her experience might make her especially supportive of Hillary Clinton. Albright’s comment made the news, but here I think she’s using hyperbole to encourage women to support Clinton,” Pierce said.
This discussion is only beginning but has already had a major impact, not only on Clinton’s campaign to become the first woman president of the United States, but also on young SRJC women and how they are processing and evaluating their roles as women in society.
