{"id":27957,"date":"2016-02-01T21:02:48","date_gmt":"2016-02-02T03:02:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=27957"},"modified":"2016-02-01T21:09:22","modified_gmt":"2016-02-02T03:09:22","slug":"contending-with-gender-pondering-president-hillary-clinton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/contending-with-gender-pondering-president-hillary-clinton\/","title":{"rendered":"Contending with gender: pondering President Hillary Clinton"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Enrica Nicoli Aldini<\/strong><\/p>\n

DES MOINES, Iowa \u2013<\/strong> It easy to find Iowa women who believe gender should not be the deciding factor in choosing a presidential candidate. Harder to find are women who doubt that electing the country’s first female president would shape the future of the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cPersonally, I feel like gender is important,\u201d said Anne Bailey, deputy field director for NARAL Pro-Choice America, who volunteered at a Hillary Clinton rally in Cedar Rapids. \u201cRepresentation is important. When women are making policies, they\u2019re putting issues that affect women at the top of the agenda.\u201d<\/p>\n

Heading into Monday night’s caucuses, Clinton enjoyed a slight lead\u00a0 over Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders here. Not only is she given a better chance at being the Democratic nominee, a win in Iowa would also make history – eight years after Iowa Democrats chose Barack Obama and pushed her into third place.<\/p>\n

According to the final Des Moines Register poll released Saturday, Clinton was outpolling Sanders among women by 10 points.\u00a0 The newspaper noted that women make up the majority of the caucus electorate in Iowa.<\/p>\n

Writing recently in the Register, University of Iowa political science professor Sara Mitchell argued that gender matters: \u201cMy basic argument in the editorial is that democratic women in legislatures are more likely to vote to help women\u2019s issues.”<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Campaign<\/a>
Click here to check out all of Medill Reports’ coverage of the Iowa Caucus and the road to the white house.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Mitchell said, however, that\u00a0 younger female voters have yet to experience gender-based inequality and discrimination in the workplace and life at large. This makes them less likely to believe in Clinton\u2019s potential to make a difference for women if she reaches the Oval Office.<\/p>\n

\u201cYounger women don\u2019t see gender as something that will hinder their chances. When you\u2019re 20, you don\u2019t see the world through those lenses,\u201d said Mitchell. \u201cGender issues just don\u2019t trigger for younger women in the same way.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHillary\u2019s gender problem is that young women are not movement feminists,\u201d said Cary Covington, a colleague of Mitchell’s who studies presidential politics.<\/p>\n

A large number of young female voters, in fact, support Sanders. Shortly after the Vermont senator wrapped up a speech in Davenport, 24-year-old Kerry Peters said that while she doesn\u2019t doubt men \u201chave the upper hand,\u201d she has never experienced blatant sexism or gender discrimination. Nor does she believe she should vote for Clinton simply because they are both women.<\/p>\n

She is caucusing for Sanders.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven though Bernie is a man, he…is a voice for women\u2019s rights,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The phrase “as a woman” should not even be part of the electoral calculus, said Rania Batrice, Iowa communications director for the Sanders campaign.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re choosing a presidential candidate, your choice has to be based on the person,\u201d she said. \u201cSaying \u2018as a woman\u2019 means I can\u2019t think of anything beyond my gender.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some Iowa women, however, are taking the gender factor well into account.<\/p>\n

\u201cHillary being a woman is the biggest thing that\u2019s keeping me from making a decision,\u201d Karen Nichols, an Iowan, said at the Hamburg Inn, an iconic presidential campaign stop in Iowa City. \u201cShe\u2019s the strongest voice for women right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nichols said Sanders brought essential issues to the table, including his signature policies on income inequality. \u201cI hope that he stays in the race a little while longer, so these issues can be still talked about,\u201d she said. Still, Clinton has done an expert job at championing women\u2019s issues on the trail, Nichols said, and \u201cshe\u2019s the strongest voice for women.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Sue Dvorsky, former chairwoman of the Iowa Democratic Party and Clinton supporter,\u00a0 thinks about Clinton\u2019s relationship with women, her thoughts turn to the example she sets for younger girls. Over Sunday morning coffee in Coralville, Iowa., she recalled an event a few months ago. A young girl told Clinton she was often bullied at school, and she asked the Democratic front-runner what she would do about it if she were elected president.<\/p>\n

Clinton brought the little girl up on stage and started talking to her one-on-one. \u201cThe whole room stopped. The two of them were talking like a grandmother and a granddaughter would,\u201d she said. \u201cBeing a woman, a mother, a grandmother, is part of who Hillary is. She\u2019s portraying herself honestly as who she is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Photo at top: Hillary Clinton poses with female supporters at a Get out the Caucus event in Cedar Rapids. (Enrica Nicoli Aldini\/MEDILL)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Enrica Nicoli Aldini DES MOINES, Iowa \u2013 It easy to find Iowa women who believe gender should not be the deciding factor in choosing a presidential candidate. Harder to find are women who doubt that electing the country’s first female president would shape the future of the country. \u201cPersonally, I feel like gender is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":195,"featured_media":27958,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[452,1145,766,30,978,1144,585],"tags":[192],"class_list":["post-27957","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-beyond-chicago","category-election-2016","category-election2016","category-public-affairs","category-iowa-caucuses","category-the-iowa-caucuses","category-winter-2016","tag-promo"],"yoast_head":"\nContending with gender: pondering President Hillary Clinton - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/contending-with-gender-pondering-president-hillary-clinton\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Contending with gender: pondering President Hillary Clinton - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Enrica Nicoli Aldini DES MOINES, Iowa \u2013 It easy to find Iowa women who believe gender should not be the deciding factor in choosing a presidential candidate. 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