“Frankly, if Hillary Clinton were a man, I don’t think she’d get 5 percent of the vote. The only thing she’s got going is the women’s card.”
I don’t like having to start an article off with a Donald Trump quote, but he brings up an interesting point. And by interesting, I mean deeply misogynistic and insulting. Trump was recently quoted saying this as he addressed his crowd of supporters after a victorious New York primary. It’s not the first time he’s accused Hillary Clinton of playing the gender card— and it’s definitely not the first time Clinton’s been criticized for such a notorious act either. Countless media outlets have produced stories on her playing the women card, and even former candidates, like Carly Fiorina, have accused her of it as well.
But what is the gender card, and why is Clinton accused of using it? Is she exposing sexism? Is she talking more about feminine issues? Is she milking her womanhood to appeal more towards female voters? As she addressed it, “If fighting for women’s health care and paid family leave and equal pay is playing the ‘women card,’ then deal me in.”
Let me be clear: this article is not an endorsement for Hillary Clinton. In fact, I won’t even be voting for her in California’s upcoming primary. But I am going to defend her. Not her policies, not her past actions, not even her tired email scandal—just her as a woman.
If we zoom out for a moment and look at America’s population in its entirety, sex is pretty much split, with females making up around 50.4% of the population. Now, keep in mind that America is built on the idea of equality, and our democratic government exists to represent the entire population. And when we look at Congress and see that it is only 19.4% female, and we consider the fact that there has never been a female president or even vice president, it becomes clear that “equal representation” is something that has never truly existed.
So when Hillary Clinton is accused of playing the gender card, I can’t help but wonder why that’s a bad thing. She’s no stranger to sexism. For a woman who studied at Yale Law School, became the First Lady in 1993, a US Senator in 2001 and Secretary of State in 2009, there are over a million results when you google “sexist remarks made about Hillary Clinton,” including a site that features “A Comprehensive Guide To Sexist Attacks On Hillary Clinton” during her 2008 presidential campaign.
Today, Clinton is the only woman who has ever been this close to presidency. Having our first female president would be a milestone in American history—it would change how both women and men are perceived in our culture by destroying traditional gender roles. Despite this, Hillary Clinton is ridiculed when she brings up her gender, as if her campaign isn’t a major landmark in the ongoing struggle for gender equality and representation. When she mentions her gender, she gets accused of playing the “woman card.” When someone else acknowledges her gender, they’re accused of “only supporting her because she’s a woman,” as if she hasn’t accomplished anything else in her career.
The gender card is a vital card for Hillary Clinton to play. I encourage her forcing her femininity in the faces of American voters. The world needs to recognize her as a powerful woman running for president and as someone who might even win. She shouldn’t be expected to stay quiet about her gender (especially at a time when topics of interest include publicly debating the regulation of women’s bodies).
No, Hillary Clinton is not the best representation of a feminist. Like I said, I’m not defending any of her past actions or statements. But I respect her as a woman, mainly because of what her candidacy stands for in the long run. Girls can aspire towards leadership and presidency now that a female president is a true possibility, not just something that is said to be plausible but that the world has never actually seen. (Also, a new study published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology found that exposure to female role models actually leads women to perform better.)
Should you vote for Hillary Clinton solely based on the fact that she’s a woman? No. Should you assume that that’s why the majority of her supporters are voting for her? No. Are there other candidates like Bernie Sanders who would actually do more to support American women? That would take an entire other article to explain. Whether Clinton goes on to win the candidacy and presidency or not, she will be inspiring women to join politics and exercise their voice in America either way—an incredibly beneficial side effect, since studies have shown that women legislators are more effective than their male counterparts. How’s that gender card looking now, fellas? I’d say pretty good.