Democratic Primaries
In reply to the discussion: Women presidential candidates have hit critical mass when they can tell their woman-stories... [View all]Hekate
(90,189 posts)...in a man's world, and the battle-advice they gave the rest of us really had that flavor. How well I remember it. "Find a mentor" -- really? How is that even done? "You can do it all/you can have it all" -- Pardon me, but what a crock of shit that was for most of us.
And of course, never show weakness in the business or academic world.
They spoke a different language than I was brought up with. Feminism felt so right, so just, but I wanted to be a mother and raise children at home, and when I was thrust untimely into the work-world with a BA and 2 toddlers to support I looked around my town and ended up as a secretary. Every day I felt like a failure, at home for not being there for my kids and at work for not knowing how to get beyond where I was.
But my musings aside: No, it was not safe to share our stories. It was not safe to have difficulties with child care. It was not okay to take time off work to care for a sick child. It was not okay to get phone calls at work for any reason (and there were no cell phones).
I thought my problems were because I was so low on the totem pole that people had no respect for me and my job, and if only... And then I ran into (almost literally) a young physician tearing out of the day care center, and was told by the caregivers that she had the exact same problems at the clinic where she was employed that I had at the university where I worked. Our mutual problem was being female and being mothers, not who had achieved more academically or who had better focus on a career.
Hillary Clinton is my age. She was shaped in that era: young, idealistic, ambitious. A skilled lawyer. For various reasons she early on became the favorite piñata of the RW hate-machine. But talk about persisting! Talk about being a unicorn... She was criticized for being too harsh, criticized for being too soft, attacked for being the wrong woman. But what a pioneer.
To have this many women all at once running for POTUS, and this many among the top 10 is amazing enough. But to hear them share their personal stories as women and not try to elide them as something generic to be non-threatening to a male audience just blew me away.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden