Many people have dismissed Senator John McCain’s choice of Sarah Palin, as the vice-presidential nominee, as merely tokenistic. They have pointed to the fact that McCain had only spoken to Palin a handful of times before selecting her as his running mate. Others have pounced on her record as a politician who has no federal or international experience, who has been governor of Alaska for less than two years and before that mayor of a town made up of 6,000 people.
In
Grazia magazine, author Kathy Lette quipped that ‘McCain has obviously chosen Palin because he thinks female voters will stick to her like nylon knickers in a Texan heatwave.’ Whatever McCain’s intention, Palin has certainly diverted media attention away from Democrat’s candidate Barack Obama. Even her trademark Kawasaki rimless glasses are reaching cult status.
Palin has copped criticism from a number of quarters, with commentators pouncing on everything from her teenage daughter’s pregnancy to the fact she only recently got her first passport The most venomous condemnation of Palin has come not from the left, but from a number of feminists. In some ways this is surprising. Palin is a member of Feminists for Life (a group that promotes feminism but doesn’t support abortion), juggles family with a successful political career, and could easily have been the poster girl for the brand of feminism that promises ‘women can have it all’.
Instead, many notable feminists have derided her. In a
Wall Street Journal article ‘Why feminists hate Sarah Palin’, journalist Cathy Young went so far as to describe Palin as having ‘strong, anti-woman policies.’ Young claims that Palin was chosen as an unthreatening female who played up her beauty queen and ‘Hockey Mom’ credentials to keep men on side—a statement seemingly at odds with a woman who describes herself as a ‘Pit-bull in lipstick’.
But above all, its Palin’s conservative attitude to reproductive rights, which has many feminists concerned that she could undermine generations of hard work fighting for equality. She opposes abortion including in cases of rape and incest. She opposes birth control, emergency contraception and just like McCain, is all about abstinence only education.
Even so, some of the criticism flung at her has been surprisingly vitriolic. In the same
Grazia article, Lette describes her as, ‘A post feminist. A woman who has kept her Wonderbra and burnt her brains.’ A religion professor at the University of Chicago, Wendy Doniger, recently said of Palin, ‘Her greatest hypocrisy is in her pretense that she's a woman.’
Sun Times columnist Mary Mitchell wrote a piece titled ‘Palin should be laughingstock to all feminists’, which begins, ‘Sarah Palin makes me sick. I hate that she was able to steal Barack Obama's mojo just by showing up wearing rimless glasses and a skirt.’
As a feminist, I certainly disagree with many of Palin’s stances on equality in marriage and healthcare. But criticism of Palin’s wish for creationism to be taught in schools and her attempts to have books with inappropriate language banned are, to my mind, unrelated to her feminism Even if feminists disagree with her policies she is still an example of a woman who is living life on her own terms and who has well and truly smashed through the glass ceiling. Pro-Palin journalist Gerard Baker acknowledges this, saying there is a danger in underestimating Palin. ‘You don’t win a statewide election and enjoy approval ratings of more than 80 per cent without real political talent,’ he said.
But more concerning than her stance on women’s issues are her eerily familiar positions on climate change and the Iraq war—unsurprising when she is being tutored (using bullet points on palm cards) in foreign policy by Stephen Biegun, who last worked on President George W. Bush’s National Security Council.
The influence is already showing, with Palin taking an unquestioning attitude to most of the traditional Republican views that she is supposedly an antidote to (McCain previously described her as ‘the perfect partner to give Washington a shake up’). When questioned about her stance on the Bush Doctrine (the concept of preventive war to protect perceived threats to the US as seen in the 2003 invasion of Iraq) she was caught off guard and had to ask the journalist for clarification. She eventually trotted out the party line, calling the Iraq War a ‘task from God.’ Her old school stances are also apparent in reiteration of the link the Bush administration made between Iraq and the September 11 attacks.
Talented and persistent she may be, but Palin is no one-woman revolution. Having someone with ovaries residing in the oval office is long overdue, but however you view her feminism, a leader spouting the leftovers of George Bush’s policy doesn’t represent change.
How do I know this?
Barker, Gerard., ‘McCain team offers chance of real reform,’
The Weekend Australian, September 6-7
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,,24300422-17062,00.html
Bibby, Paul., ‘Eyes have it for President Palin’,
Sydney Morning Herald, September 13, 2008.
Davies, Anne., ‘Palin a tough talking hawk’,
Sydney Morning Herald, September 12, 2008.
Elliot, Geoff., ‘McCain predicts a nail-biter poll night’,
Weekend Australian, September 13, 2008,
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,,24335952-26397,00.html
Elliot, Geoff., ‘Hurricane Sarah Blows In’,
The Weekend Australian, September 6, 2008
Klein, Joe., ‘In the Arena: Conservative vs Radical’,
Time, September 15, 2008.
Lette, Kathy., ‘Star spangled danger’,
Grazia, September 15, 2008.
Mitchell, Mary., ‘Palin should be laughingstock to all feminists’,
Sun Times, September 14, 2008,
http://www.suntimes.com/news/mitchell/1161035,CST-NWS-mitch14.article
Thornborough, Nathan., ‘Call of the Wild’,
Time, September 15, 2008,
http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1838572,00.html
