Gender Bias In Presidential Elections

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The history of the United States shows that women have had to overcome many struggles to achieve equal treatment in the arena of politics. It wasn’t until the passing of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920, that women were given the right to vote (Boundless, 2016). Years later, in 1981, President Ronald Reagan named Sandra Day O’Connor as the first female Supreme Court Justice (Boundless, 2016). Since then, many women have worked in different levels of government politics in the United States. Currently, we are witnessing one of the biggest moments in history, in which the presidential candidate for a major party is a female. Although, women have come a long way in the political world, gender biases, gender expectations, and gender stereotypes …show more content…

Much of this prominence is placed by the media and the entertainment industries. According to the article, “2016 Outlook: Gender Bias, Media, and the Cause for Concern in Presidential Politics” research studies show, female political candidates often receive less media coverage than male candidates; however, when female candidates do appear on the media, they are often presented in a negative, stereotypical, and sexist way. For example, in the 2008 presidential election, Clinton was criticized for her lack of femininity (Dittmar, 2015). Furthermore, on several different occasions during Clinton’s campaign in 2008, the media referred to her as, “the wicked witch of the west” on CNN; a “blood-sucking vampire” on FOX; and a “she-devil” on MSNBC (Dittmar, 2015). However, this time around, supporters of Clinton have a campaign that is particularly aimed at journalists to prevent the use of sexist language when covering her in the …show more content…

Since a female’s appearance plays a major role in success for women entering a male-dominated political arena, Clinton chooses to wear pantsuits rather than dresses. Since the 1960’s, pantsuits have been a symbol of a woman’s empowerment and professionalism in the corporate and political world; however, it wasn’t until 1993 that women could wear pantsuits on the floor of the senate (Boyd & McGinley, 2009). By choosing to wear a pantsuit, Clinton in a way is emphasizing toughness, competence, and experience to further demonstrate that she is just as qualified to fulfill the presidential position as her male opponent, Trump. Therefore, Clinton distinguishes herself as feminine as possible by wearing pantsuits of many different colors, particularly blue, white, and red since displaying too much masculinity as a woman is perceived negatively by

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