Who Run It (J424 #2)

Who Run the World? As Beyoncé would have it, girls do. This question may have been circulating in American’s minds the last few days as Hillary Clinton made her official announcement that she intends to run for president in the 2016 election. However, this is not Clinton’s first time around the block in the race to become the Democratic nominee. She announced her candidacy for the first time in 2007 with a similar video but in a starkly different political and social climate (Siegel).

As of now, I’m less concerned with the politics of it all and more interested in what the American public’s perception of a female president is. As a female, my own bias is that the general public (whether Democrat, Republican or identifying with another party) believes that, because Clinton is a woman, she either deserves to be president or cannot not live up to the standards of male politicians simply because of her sex—a dichotomy of viewpoints that must affect female politician’s aspirations.

The Pew Research Center conducted a study titled “Women and Leadership,” which found that most Americans believe that women are as capable as men in positions of leadership and power as well as “key leadership traits such as intelligence and capacity for innovation” (www.pewsocialtrends.org).

So, what then, is the catch? Although 34% of Americans believe that female politicians are better at compromises, most believe the reason there are fewer women in politics is less about motherhood and more about the “double standard” that women have to “do more than their male counterparts to prove themselves”(www.pewsocialtrends.org).

It seems like the higher standards for females in any position of power is not only a deterrent for future female leaders but also shapes public perception. For example, despite the study spewing multiple statistics about how female leader outperform men (“women are more likely than men to say female leaders do a better job”), it still shows a general resistance to electing a female president (www.pewsocialtrends.org).

What this could mean for Clinton in 2016 is still unknown, but the study does mention that the prospect of her presidency could be a “major milestone for women” (www.pewsocialtrends.org) and perhaps change public perception. However, soon it may very well be that girls run the world…or at least the U.S.

Some Sources:

"Women and Leadership." Pew Research Center. 14 Jan. 2015. Web. 20 Apr. 2015. <http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2015/01/14/women-and-leadership/>.

Siegel, Benjamin . "Then and Now: Hillary Clinton's 2016 Campaign Announcement vs. 2008." ABC News. 12 Apr. 2015. Web. 15 Apr. 2015. <http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/now-hillary-clintons-2016-campaign-announcement-2008/story?id=30264756>.