Overdue. 

I’ve been meaning to write this article/rant for awhile, about the stupidity and sexism I see on the news that female leaders face around the world. Hillary Clinton no doubt has faced some of this crap as well. This may end up being a diary series. Probably should have had this up two weeks ago, but was busy with work.

Specifically, I wanted to bring up one of the newest female presidents in the world, Tsai Ing-Wen who was elected President of Taiwan back in January in a huge landslide. She officially became president last month. This was a fantastic moment for Taiwan as well as Asia. The Independent describes her as a Democracy campaigner, Gay rights champion and cat-lover.

However, during and after her inauguration some things I noted that annoyed me then pissed me off straight away. Particularly from media and of course China’s reaction.

First off, this article from Business Insider.

Wearing a cream blazer with dark trousers, Tsai pledged to defend the country and abide by the constitution of the Republic of China, Taiwan’s formal name, as she took the oath of office, which was carried on live TV broadcast.

What’s wrong with this section? Clothing. 

Wanted to laugh honestly. Why describe Tsai Ing-wen's clothing? Do media organizations describe Obama’s or the China’s President Xi’s clothing every time they make a speech to the press? About how they wear black suits with the same tie?

Maybe I am overreacting to this part. Maybe. But, I feel like I saw the same thing about articles on Clinton’s choice of clothing. Talking about their clothes kind of distracts from what the person is talking about. 

A more serious and obvious piece of sexism was an article on President Tsai Ing-Wen by a Chinese military official. It was posted it on the website a newspaper affiliated with the Chinese state news agency Xinhua. It has been since deleted.

New York Times on it

General Wang’s commentary offered a vitriolic psychoanalysis that suggested Ms. Tsai espoused abnormal values and was not to be trusted.

In one passage, General Wang, a member of the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait, the semiofficial body in charge of contacts with Taiwan, suggested that Ms. Tsai was loyal to Japan, describing her fondness for Japanese rice balls and her close relationship with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. In another, he offered a lengthy tirade on Ms. Tsai’s personal life, noting that her father had had several wives.

“All in all, Tsai Ing-wen has a conspicuous duplicity to her personality and her politicking,” General Wang wrote. “She is doomed to dwell in this contradiction for a lifetime.”

This awesome Tumblr Page thankfully has a full translation of the article up. Big thanks because I wasn’t able to find it elsewhere. 

Washington Post’s Emily Rauhala had an article on this

"As a single female politician, she does not have the emotional burden of love, the restraints of 'family' or concerns of children. Her political style and strategy often grows emotional, individualized and extreme," writes Wang Weixing, a Beijing-based Taiwan specialist.

The piece says nothing new, or true, about Tsai Ing-wen as a person, politician or president. It dresses up rank sexism as psychology, pretending to tell us something about who she is or what she'll do.

What it really does is trot out the oldest possible tropes about female leaders — that they are guided by emotion, not reason, that they are unstable and unreliable, that they are irredeemably and irreversibly not men.

Exactly. She pretty much nails it. 

I also wanted to point out something that Emily should have added to her article. Its is also sexism because the editorial is tracing Tsai’s political views to males around her: like her father, the Japanese Prime Minister, or the former Taiwan president. All men. Because women have no core beliefs and aren’t able to form any independently right? Sigh.

Also even more terrifying, as Emily notes, this is a Chinese expert who teaches others in their government about Taiwan. Sexism.

Also this criticism of her being single is fucking absurd. Being married doesn’t make you immune to problems.

CNN on responses. 

But the piece sparked a storm of criticism online, with users pointing to South Korean President Park Geun-hye and former Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi as successful, single Asian female politicians.

Li Yunlong, a professor at the Central Party School of Communist Party of China, voiced his anger on Weibo -- China's equivalent of Twitter.

"What does being single have to do with her political views ...

Female politicians around the world over are subjected to this kind of crap. Sexism can take many subtle forms and this is some of what appears. 

Tsai Ing-Wen and Hillary have both faced this and will continue to do so, and I have no doubt they’ll defeat any sexist challenge.

Personally speaking, I’ve lived in Taiwan for 1 1/2 year, and Japan for 3 years, India for 2 years, so Asia isn’t something new to me. I wish the new Taiwan president well. She seems great.

If you have any suggestions on what international female leader to write about next and the problems they face please let me know. I might do one on the female politicians in Japan or South Korea next.

Thanks for reading.