Race and gender in campaign discussed
by Deborah Frisch
Staff writer
News | 2/12/08
Posted online at 4:00 AM EST on 2/12/08
/ Last updated at 7:07 PM EST on 2/12/08
Greenlee said part of Clinton's appeal to women can be attributed to her image as a working woman and a mother.
While Clinton is not representative of all women, Greenlee said, much of her appeal to female voters' results from her status as the first female candidate that is married to a key political player. "She represents [the] continuation of white male patriarchy," Greenlee said.
Within gender schemes, "women are seen as possessing expressive traits; women are compassionate, understanding, more trustworthy and moral," Greenlee said, while men are seen as more stable, aggressive and confident.
Kryder followed Greenlee and said, "Americans are keen to take credit for the apparent progressivism taking place, but both of these candidates are hybrids in very important ways in terms of race and gender."
Neither of these candidates has made their race or gender specific constituencies central to their campaigns, Kryder said. It seems that both are "generally running away from their identities. Obama is all about muting difference, and Hillary is running as a political hardball player," Kryder said.
After researching the issues on both candidates' Web sites, Kryder concluded that gender issues have been captured by the term "family," and race has been captured by the term "crime." It seems as if political practices have moved on and race and gender no longer matter, but this "de-racialized and de-genderized role makes identities more important" Kryder concluded.
Questions from the audience ranged from issues around Obama's response to a question about Hispanics taking jobs from blacks to whether a residual fear of a black man in power could be dangerous for Obama if he were to win the presidency.
In response to questions about identity, race, and gender, Greenlee said that "[Hillary and Barack] are individuals as well, and we don't know if Latinos are voting for Hillary because they don't like Obama and are suspicious of a black president or if they just like Hillary. We don't know if it's about race and gender or Barack and Hillary."
Greenlee concluded that gender and race matter a great deal in this election. "Women tend to vote for female candidates," she said. Mapps concurred with the idea of symbolic representation and said "blacks tend to vote for blacks and Hispanics for Hispanics."
While Clinton is not representative of all women, Greenlee said, much of her appeal to female voters' results from her status as the first female candidate that is married to a key political player. "She represents [the] continuation of white male patriarchy," Greenlee said.
Within gender schemes, "women are seen as possessing expressive traits; women are compassionate, understanding, more trustworthy and moral," Greenlee said, while men are seen as more stable, aggressive and confident.
Kryder followed Greenlee and said, "Americans are keen to take credit for the apparent progressivism taking place, but both of these candidates are hybrids in very important ways in terms of race and gender."
Neither of these candidates has made their race or gender specific constituencies central to their campaigns, Kryder said. It seems that both are "generally running away from their identities. Obama is all about muting difference, and Hillary is running as a political hardball player," Kryder said.
After researching the issues on both candidates' Web sites, Kryder concluded that gender issues have been captured by the term "family," and race has been captured by the term "crime." It seems as if political practices have moved on and race and gender no longer matter, but this "de-racialized and de-genderized role makes identities more important" Kryder concluded.
Questions from the audience ranged from issues around Obama's response to a question about Hispanics taking jobs from blacks to whether a residual fear of a black man in power could be dangerous for Obama if he were to win the presidency.
In response to questions about identity, race, and gender, Greenlee said that "[Hillary and Barack] are individuals as well, and we don't know if Latinos are voting for Hillary because they don't like Obama and are suspicious of a black president or if they just like Hillary. We don't know if it's about race and gender or Barack and Hillary."
Greenlee concluded that gender and race matter a great deal in this election. "Women tend to vote for female candidates," she said. Mapps concurred with the idea of symbolic representation and said "blacks tend to vote for blacks and Hispanics for Hispanics."
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