Gendering Politics and Policy: Recent Developments in Europe, Latin America, and the United States by Heidi Hartmann

Author:Heidi Hartmann [Hartmann, Heidi]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: International Relations, Public Policy, Social Policy, Social Science, Political Science, Sociology, Women's Studies, General, Feminism
ISBN: 9781317954651
Google: fXzJAwAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 22538532
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2006-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Assessment

Fitzpatrick got 55 percent of the vote, and Schrader 43 percent. Fitzpatrick succeeded in painting Schrader as a woman “too dangerous” to trust. While the majority of the district appears to hold views like Schrader’s, Fitzpatrick’s repetitive messages were too much for her to overcome. The nearly $4 million television piling-on to destroy her credibility had worked. Neither this extravagant expenditure nor the ferocity of the attacks was necessary for his victory. He had the capacity to win without such excess.

When all three races are considered together, it is clear that only Barend raised enough money to make her race competitive. Only Barend attacked her opponent hard enough in the campaign’s early days to give her credibility when the campaign turned explosive. As in the Sumers campaign, both Barend’s and Schrader’s opponents questioned the women’s patriotism and labeled them as liars, reckless, disloyal, and dangerous to America. The aim was to construct a framework for the voters, which would stimulate fears about terrorism and war. Were these women too inexperienced to be trusted in time of war? Were they too weak to make the necessary tough decisions? Their opponents further exploited these fears by portraying the women in unflattering pictures making them look unkempt and unreliable. While the women were never directly attacked because of their gender, prejudicial opinions of women as either the weaker sex or the sex with little judgment was a subtext in their opponents’ campaign messages.

Bush’s message that only he could keep America safe was the 800-pound gorilla in the 2004 congressional campaigns. The Republican male candidates constantly emphasized their loyalty to Bush and how important it was for voters to send people to Congress who understood the stakes involved in the war on terror. These messages were informally coordinated with the Bush campaign through the local GOP organizations. There was no similar organized effort on the Democratic side.

New technologies were even more important than in the Sumers race for delivering and responding quickly to attacks. In the Barend campaign, a blog released the documents that changed the dynamics of the race. In Schrader’s campaign, the Internet helped counteract Fitzpatrick’s saturation television attacks. In both, the Internet framed messages that were picked up by traditional media.

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