The presumptive Republican presidential candidate has claimed of Hillary Clinton that “the only thing she’s got going is the woman’s card.”
As most women know, however, the wild card that can trump anything else in the game is the anti-woman card. The anti-woman card has three properties:
1. Any time a woman accomplishes something positive, the anti-woman card can either attribute it to someone else, or devalue the accomplishment as meaningless.
2. Any time something bad happens within a 1-mile radius of a woman, the anti-woman card can tag her with the sole blame for it.
3. Any time someone notices and documents an injustice specific to women, the anti-woman card can make the injustice too trivial to be of concern or too expensive to fix.
I’ve seen the anti-woman card in play for half a century as an adult. Like Ms. Clinton, I’ve come out ok, but that is “in spite of” - not “because of” - the cards in play.
Read on for some examples – hers, mine, and your own in the comments!
My perspective: I’m almost exactly Hillary Clinton’s age, and could easily have been her classmate at Wellesley but chose to go to another liberal arts college. I majored in math, got a PhD in statistics, and have been in one or another academic setting for 44 years, primarily in medical schools. My interdisciplinary colleagues have been mostly male, well educated, progressive, and yet many have been quite capable of playing the anti-woman card, just like the lawyers, politicians, and press surrounding Ms. Clinton for the same period. I’ll start the list of examples.
1. A woman accomplishes something? It’s because of a man, or else meaningless.
- You made the editorial board of your Ivy League law school? Must have been your boyfriend’s help, or affirmative action.
- You were elected – and re-elected – Senator? Must have been your name, not your ability or your efforts to meet people all around the state.
- You got a faculty job at Harvard? Must have been boyfriend’s influence.
- You won the county-wide high school math contest? Must have been an easy test that year!
- You created an educational program for preschoolers in your state, and improved outcomes in one of the worst school systems in the country? Eh, not that big a deal.
2. Something bad happens in your vicinity? Must be your fault.
- Divorced? Clearly your fault.
- Your husband was unfaithful and you stayed? Your fault for his behavior and your fault for not divorcing him, a two-fer.
- Someone who knew you committed suicide? You either pulled the trigger, had it done, or drove him to suicide.
- Any policy during your husband’s presidency that doesn’t work is your fault but anything that does work is a credit to him.
3. OK, this is unfair. So what?
- You’re paid less than males with less experience and weaker records? Well, they have a family to support. It would cost too much to give you a raise. And if you don’t like it, get a job offer somewhere else!
- You’re on way more committees than the men? Well, they all need a woman, and you’re the only one we have.
- You raised your voice during a speech. Shrill! OK, men don’t get called that, but it’s a trivial complaint. Get over it.
- Your career took second place while you followed your husband and put his career first. We reserve the right to ask what you’ve actually accomplished on your own, and to criticize you as both a feminist and a non-feminist.
Feel like adding your own personal examples? Be my guest! I hope it is an opportunity for people to comment on their experience of our culture’s assumptions about and treatment of women, even those in relatively privileged settings like Ms. Clinton and me. (And yes, we know that not all men play this card. But it’s only played against women.)
This is not intended, however, to be a forum to argue about everything Hillary did or didn’t do, or Bernie did or didn’t do, or who is or is not a sexist. Please desist here; goodness knows there is plenty of room elsewhere on DK for such discourse.