"... the comparisons between Clinton and Fiorina ... are frankly insulting. Other than gender, the two women have little in common."

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Female political candidates are treated as circus freaks
By Jessica A. Levinson, June 14, 2015

If I listened to the political pundits prognosticating about the 2016 election, then I might think we had reached something close to gender equality in politics. Each side of the political aisle has its female candidate for president of the United States. Quick, someone tell the feminists their work is done.

The fact that Hillary Rodham Clinton is likely to nab the Democratic nomination and Carly Fiorina is vying for the title of most-talked-about longshot candidate on the Republican side hardly means we have reached anything close to parity in politics.

Women are underrepresented at every level of government, from city halls to county seats, state capitals and of course the federal capital. We recently celebrated the fact that 1 in 5 members of Congress is a woman. That winning 20 percent of congressional seats is a landmark moment is utterly depressing. The fact that there are two female candidates running for the presidency does not lessen the need for a discussion about the underrepresentation of women in political offices; instead, it provides a platform for it.

Both Clinton and Fiorina are trumpeting the historic nature of their campaigns, as they should. Indeed, Clinton ended her official launch speech Saturday by promising to push for an “America where a father can tell his daughter: ‘Yes, you can be anything you want to be — even president of the United States.’” Clinton and Fiorina should mention the fact that all 43 people who have worked in the Oval Office have had one thing in common — their gender. But if one of those women were to become the first female president or vice president of the United States, that is only the next step in a long journey toward gender equality.

Electing an African American man president did not magically rectify the under-representation of African Americans in elected office. The same will be true if we elect a female president or vice president.

And let us also remember that the comparisons between Clinton and Fiorina (which I’m guilty of making here) are frankly insulting. Other than gender, the two women have little in common. When Republican Sen. Sam Brownback from Kansas entered the 2008 presidential campaign as a relative longshot candidate, no one asked if he was the anti-Barack Obama or anti-John Edwards the way plenty of commentators are asking if Fiorina is the anti-Clinton.

The message that these comparisons between Clinton and Fiorina send is clear — each side gets its one female candidate, no more, no fewer. It is all but understood that Clinton would not pick a female running mate. There would be no need, because we have already checked the gender box on her candidacy. Similarly, in the unlikely event that Fiorina were nominated for president, or chosen as a vice presidential candidate, it is all but assured that she would be the only female on that ticket.

Female candidates are therefore made into circus-like oddities. Come one, come all, and take a look at the women who want to be president. Let’s stop making female candidates circus freaks.
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