While being the first woman president would be a huge accomplishment, being a woman, by itself, will not get you elected. We know this because the last time Hillary Clinton ran for president, she didn't win. This time around, she has emerged as the only viable democratic candidate, and she has centered her campaign around women's issues.
Carly Fiorina has repeatedly called out
Clinton on playing the gender card. But calling
people out on playing cards — whether it be the race card or the gender card — is a shoddy way of criticizing them. It discounts all their accomplishments and fails to account for how hard it can be to rise through the ranks of government when you’re not a white male. The incoming Congress, while it is the most diverse one yet, is still about 80 percent white and 80 percent male. The gender and race card are totally valid cards to play, because we have yet to achieve equal representation in government.
There is nothing wrong with drawing attention to inequalities in the system. In fact, who better to draw attention to the unique issues that women face than a woman president, in the same way that President Barack Obama is able to draw attention to how police brutality affects the black community. Of course, we have to recognize that both Clinton and Obama are both currently much wealthier than the average American, which distances them from a lot of issues.
Men have run for office on platforms that completely excluded women’s issues. Why is it wrong for Clinton to make these issues the center of her campaign just because she is a woman?
Pretending that inequality does not exist doesn’t make it go away. We haven’t yet achieved gender equality when it comes to political positions. If there truly were gender equality, it would be impossible to predict whether there would be more men or women within congress. A women president would be meaningless, because there would have already been many. As it stands now, a woman becoming president would be a huge accomplishment, whether that woman is a republican or a Democrat.
Being proud of your accomplishments in the face of adversity is not a negative thing. Perhaps some people will vote for clinton because she is a woman whose campaign is focused on woman's issues. That is a completely legitimate reason for voting for her.
Fiorina has also taken a stand on women’s issues, in- cluding decrying Clinton’s advocacy for women’s rights while at the same time taking money from governments that deny women rights through her foundation. Even though Fiorina is also a woman, she is erasing that women still face adversity in this country by accusing
Clinton of playing the gender card.
Just as Fiorina is allowed to have an opinion on
women’s issues, so is Clinton. There are many things that Clinton can be called out on, but her choice to center her campaign on women’s issues should not be used to discredit her. Over the course of his first term, Obama shied away from directly discussing race, for fear of being accused of playing the race card.
Clinton does have an advantage due to her name rec- ognition and spectacular lack of viable opponents. Simi- larly, being a woman gives her added credibility when speaking on women’s issues. Perhaps some will end up voting for her because of her focus on issues relevant to women. The voters have a right to make that decision. Being a woman does not give Clinton a responsibility for tip toeing around these issues. It’s better for women to be leading the discussion on women’s issues. If they get accused of playing the gender card, so what? What other groups do not advocate for themselves?
Nicole Dan is a UF political science sophomore. Her column appears on Tuesdays.
