Is Obama Administration Hostile to Women?
“Confidence Men: Wall Street, Washington and the Education of a President,” the book released today by journalist Ron Suskind, alleges that females in the Obama administration have had a rough go of it. They've said that men enjoyed greater access to the president and often muscled them out of key policy discussions.
White House communications director Anita Dunn has some colorful quotes about it. Here's she references a conversation she had with senior adviser Valerie Jarrett.
“I remember once I told Valerie that, I said if it weren’t for the president, this place would be in court for a hostile workplace,” Dunn is heard telling Suskind. “Because it actually fit all of the classic legal requirements for a genuinely hostile workplace to women.”
I have no idea what's true and what's not here but I do find it interesting how often my female friends who work for outfits that are supposedly progressive complain about their treatment.
In my various jobs over the years, I've worked for conservative, libertarian and Christian outfits as well as more "liberal" media outlets. There's no question which groups treat women the best. To take the most extreme example I can think of, I was once in a high-level meeting with various Lutheran leaders while literally taking care of my infant. They didn't blink. The idea that I'd be allowed to do that at my last newspaper is, of course, laughable.
But even at the more day-to-day level, I almost always have felt more valued and respected in conservative environments than liberal ones. Assuming that others have sensed the same thing, I wonder why that is.
I don't think I ever heard any females in the Bush administration make this complaint, for instance. Theories?
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Dec '10
Re: Is Obama Administration Hostile to Women?
Have you ever heard the expression "There is no goniff like a left-wing goniff"? Unions are notorious for their bad treatment of help.
Edited on Sep 20, 2011 at 6:38amRe: Is Obama Administration Hostile to Women?
Foxman: Have you ever heard the expression "There is no goniff like a left-wing goniff"? Unions are notorious for their bad treatment of help. · Sep 20 at 6:38am
Edited on Sep 20 at 06:38 am
I have not. Also, I had to Google the Yiddish. I wonder why this disparity between words and actions.
Mar '11
Re: Is Obama Administration Hostile to Women?
He's not doing much for us men, either.
Jun '10
Re: Is Obama Administration Hostile to Women?
Authoritarianism is hostile to women. Hedonism is hostile to women. They both come free-of-charge in the Socialism package.
Mar '11
Re: Is Obama Administration Hostile to Women?
Thugs treat everyone like dirt, why should women get special dispensation?
Dec '10
Re: Is Obama Administration Hostile to Women?
Mollie Hemingway, Ed.
Foxman: Have you ever heard the expression "There is no goniff like a left-wing goniff"? Unions are notorious for their bad treatment of help. · Sep 20 at 6:38am
Edited on Sep 20 at 06:38 am
I have not. Also, I had to Google the Yiddish. I wonder why this disparity between words and actions. · Sep 20 at 6:41am
I originally read the expression in an article where the author was complaining about the difficulty of getting paid for submissions to left-wing publications. They seem to believe that the work they do is so important that stealing from the writers is ok.
It is also instructive to look at Justice Ginsburg’s defense of the lack of diversity in her staff; you see she really needs the best. By inference it is obvious that she believes that private employers do not.
Edited on Sep 20, 2011 at 7:22amMay '10
Re: Is Obama Administration Hostile to Women?
In a command society, the rules tend not to apply to the rulers. Some pigs are more equal than others.
Mar '11
Re: Is Obama Administration Hostile to Women?
My goodness, what a cynical bunch we're being today!
Jan '11
Re: Is Obama Administration Hostile to Women?
It's stereotype thinking, demographic thinking - thinking according to assumptions about the group, rather than responding to individuals. Or, as it's more commonly known, prejudice.
All blacks think X. All women think Y. All Hispanics think Z.
Conservative women do not compute. Women are supposed to be the same radical liberal, pro-abortion feminists that these guys met in college. The idea that not all women are like that, or even that a woman could (gasp) change ... that just doesn't square with the fixed worldview these people acquired in college. Women who don't support abortion .. well they're not real women yet. Black conservatives aren't black enough. Hispanics against illegal immigration? Of course not.
Most people go to college, and acquire a worldview where involvement and compassion will make them heroes and saints. Their professors assure them that all they need is to care ... and to follow the wisdom offered the professors. Usually, thank God, reality knocks the stuffing out of that little fantasy, and people learn to live in the real world - which requires responding to flesh and blood individuals, each with their own idiosyncrasies.
The Obama Gang seems frozen in mid-college assumptions.
Sep '11
Re: Is Obama Administration Hostile to Women?
During the heyday of the Black Panther Party Eldridge Cleaver (I think) was asked what position women would hold in the independent homeland he espoused.
He replied, "Prone."
(Presumably he meant "supine," but....)
Dec '10
Re: Is Obama Administration Hostile to Women?
I hesitate to bring this up because I support the legalization of marijuana, but have you ever looked at the advertisements in magazines like High Times? These are liberal publications, but near-naked women are routinely used to sell product.
Aug '10
Re: Is Obama Administration Hostile to Women?
I think the explanation is much more simple than "liberals are mean and conservatives are nice".
Rather, I think it's far more likely that women are less likely to complain or sue when their employer has a public reputation for being one of the "good guys", and when the women are devoted to "the cause".
If she works for an organization that "fights for" something she strongly agrees with, then she's less likely to express dissent for fear of hurting the organization's "mission". She will not want to give the "evil" folk at Fox News an opportunity to "smear" the organization publicly.
Also, there is simple labour supply-and-demand.
Competition for jobs at high-profile liberal organizations is fierce, while conservative organizations aren't the first choice for bright, young graduates.
When skilled labour is in short supply and in high demand, the employer will bend over backwards to retain the best people. When supply is high and demand is low, the employer will take more liberties with its labour force.
I think those two factors explain away most of the HR horror stories one hears about liberal organizations.
Edited on Sep 20, 2011 at 7:55amMay '10
Re: Is Obama Administration Hostile to Women?
This is very interesting. I had been discounting these claims because I figure politically active liberal women are probably pretty quick to take offense and feel they are being excluded without much basis. But it sounds like this may be a real issue.
Mar '11
Re: Is Obama Administration Hostile to Women?
I think the division is incorrect. It is not a Right/Left thing. It is a Religious/Atheist thing.
Religious people accept the presupposition that there is a higher power, and that He made man and woman in His image. Therefore, all people are due some deference for that fact alone, no matter how stupid or useless the person is in other respects.
Atheists believe in the power of their own minds, which means that ultimately, anything can be justified. Consideration for others is important only when it does not conflict with whatever else the atheist desires. There is no fundamental reason, to an atheist, why other people must always be treated with dignity.
Dec '10
Re: Is Obama Administration Hostile to Women?
iWc: I think the division is incorrect. It is not a Right/Left thing. It is a Religious/Atheist thing.
Religious people accept the presupposition that there is a higher power, and that He made man and woman in His image. Therefore, all people are due some deference for that fact alone, no matter how stupid or useless the person is in other respects.
Atheists believe in the power of their own minds, which means that ultimately, anything can be justified. Consideration for others is important only when it does not conflict with whatever else the atheist desires. There is no fundamental reason, to an atheist, why other people must always be treated with dignity. · Sep 20 at 8:10am
This is not at all my experience with athiests.
Mar '11
Re: Is Obama Administration Hostile to Women?
There are many of like mind here.
Also agree with you RE: athiests - don't think religion per se has anything to do with it - after all some religions have differing views on this (not mentioning any...)
Everyone here should take a moment to recall the abasement of the feminists during the Clinton administration. Suddenly sexual harassment was OK if the guilty guy was also advancing "women's issues".
Dec '10
Re: Is Obama Administration Hostile to Women?
Everyone here should take a moment to recall the abasement of the feminists during the Clinton administration. Suddenly sexual harassment was OK if the guilty guy was also advancing "women's issues".
Actually Senator Packwood had feminist-friendly voting record. They ran him out of office anyway. It is more related to the lack of hard standards.
Mar '11
Re: Is Obama Administration Hostile to Women?
Forgot about that guy - but he was a Republican, and remember that Republicans (whatever their actual voting record, published views, etc.) hate women, and blacks, and etc.....
They can never be truly advancing women's issues, just cynically using women as props.
Edited on Sep 20, 2011 at 9:35amDec '10
Re: Is Obama Administration Hostile to Women?
KC Mulville: Hispanics against illegal immigration? Of course not.
· Sep 20 at 7:31am
Actually, most immigrants want the border secured right after they get their relatives over here.