Hillary
Clinton: An inspiration to women around the world.
The People's Daily, People's Republic of China
Hillary: A Heroine
for Women, Taken Down By Male-Dominated Media
Did gender bias doom Hillary
Clinton's "female assault on the pinnacle of American male power" from
the start? According to this article from China's state-controlled People's
Daily, Hillary is a modern feminist hero defeated by both the age-old bias
against 'the second sex' and 'radical feminists.' The author Wang Tian writes:
"Looking at how newspapers and
TV networks commented on Hillary's looks, her voice and her emotional life, we
can see the kind of criticism and humiliation she has suffered.
'Hating Hillary' has even become a kind of national sport or entertainment. …
The path of her struggle in seeking to make a breakthrough may not have met
with the approval of all women. But in her own words, the 18 million voters who
supported her have made "18 million cracks in the glass ceiling."
U.S. Democratic
presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has finally admitted defeat and returned
to the Senate. After the battle between Obama and this "indomitable,
never-give-up" woman, who was confronted with a weakening campaign,
lagging poll numbers and enormous intra-party pressure for "unity,"
she was finally forced to announce her withdrawal and throw her support to
Obama, to help him achieve his dream of becoming the first Black president.
But didn't
Hillary have a dream, too?This lady,
who as a 22-year-old university graduate vowed to "make the impossible
possible," who as a gifted Yale Law School alum was twice ranked among the
hundred most influential lawyers in the United States and who as First Lady was
determined to promote health care reform, has long dreamed of becoming the
first woman president.
This time,
Hillary's dream almost came true. A woman has never gotten closer to occupying
the Oval Office. Even in the so-called "New World" of the United
States, the practice of discrimination against women has always existed. Women
didn't have the right to vote until 1920; there has been only a single female
vice presidential candidate (in 1984), and only 16 percent of the members of
Congress are currently women.
Hillary Clinton's
campaign and her defeat have created strong repercussions and controversy. Some
women cheered for her, saying that her candidacy had set off a feminist wave;
other women took exception, believing that she long ago betrayed feminism to
devote herself above all to achieving a "Clinton Dynasty."Some men strongly objected to her candidacy,
saying that Hillary should go home and "iron shirts."
Feminism - also
known as asserting women's rights - is aimed at achieving gender equality in
every respect. Although feminists often give the impression that they are
trying to "seize power from men," in fact what they are fighting for
is equal rights between women and men. In the West, concern for women's rights
can be traced back to the Enlightenment period, although important laws and
declarations like the U.S. Constitution (1787), France's Declaration of the
Rights of Man and Citizen (1789 ) and others,
have no provisions that address the protection of women's rights. Two separate
waves of feminism, at the end of the 19th century and the middle of the 20th,
strove to pursue women's suffrage and equal rights as their goals.
Growing up in the
1960's, Hillary Clinton was certainly a feminist. There is even a report that
as Bill Clinton's girlfriend, she once advised him not to marry her so as not
to stand in the way of her becoming president. Her eventual decision to marry
him gave her the opportunity to become acquainted with the Oval Office, but
also seems to have doomed her chances to occupy it. In fact, Clinton's campaign
consistently highlighted a paradox for her as a woman and former First Lady:
must women support women?Not
necessarily.
Just over half of
female voters voted for her. Older women tended to support Hillary due to their
broad experience with the hardships of being a woman; young women were more
likely to be attracted by Obama and were less likely to think that voting for a
woman for president was strictly necessary. Meanwhile, radical feminists
thought Hillary was an unwavering opportunist who shamefully compromised with
her philandering husband for the sake of her political future - in other words,
they didn't consider her a truly independent woman. So was Hillary's experience
as a White House housewife an asset in her quest to return to the Oval
Office?Not necessarily. It's true that
some people admire her talents and experience, but it was also noted that being
First Lady isn't genuine political experience. Some were even disgusted that
the "Bush Dynasty" might have been followed by the "Clinton
Dynasty."
To Hillary, it
must seem that gender discrimination ruined her chances. In the closing days of
her campaign, she openly criticized the "extreme gender bias against
women," and said that gender discrimination in the United States is worse
than racial discrimination. She was particularly dissatisfied with reports that
sought to vilify her in the elite, male-dominated media. Indeed, looking at how
newspapers and TV networks commented on Hillary's looks, her voice and her
emotional life, we can see the kind of criticism and humiliation she has
suffered. "Hating Hillary" has even become a kind of national sport
or entertainment. Whether she appeared weak or strong, independent or
subservient, the first female assault on the pinnacle of American male power
seemed doomed to failure.
HILLARY 'CACKLE': JUST GOOD FUN
- OR MEDIA BIAS?
The status of
women as the "second sex" is a phenomenon that pervades history as
well as culture. French socialist utopian Fourier had a saying that in any society, "The
extension of women's rights is the basic principle of all social
progress." Feminists believe that the patriarchal order is not naturally
formed, but rather a social and cultural construct. Women need to build an
awareness of their own identity and strive to speak up more forcefully to
improve their social status.
All her life,
Hillary has sought a balance between tradition and "making history."
The path of her struggle in seeking to make a breakthrough may not have met
with the approval of all women. But in her own words, the 18 million voters who
supported her have made "18 million cracks in the glass ceiling."
