The unimaginable just became possible: Donald Trump was elected president of the United States.
Few really thought this would happen. The polls all tipped Clinton. I certainly hoped that when even Clinton-unfriendly voters looked at their ballots and really pictured President Trump, they would hold their noses and check her box.
I underestimated the sheer rage of resentful white men.
Early exit polling suggests that white men broke for Trump by huge margins. Contrary to the electoral media narrative that this is all about economic anxiety and class, it’s increasingly clear that Trump’s victory is about race and gender. There is one lesson to take away from this election: Racism and sexism continue to be formidable motivating forces for tens of millions of Americans. And feminism has not come nearly as far as we thought when such a well-qualified woman can lose to such an imbecilic bully.
In any …show more content…
In the past half-century, women have made enormous gains, going to college and entering the workforce in record numbers, getting elected and appointed to increasingly higher offices, and often outperforming men in school and in the workplace. But that hasn’t been enough for us to reach the highest echelons, the positions long controlled almost entirely by white men — we still make up tiny minorities of leadership in business, law, politics, and the sciences. Many of us, feminist and not, have wondered why we aren’t getting there. It can’t be just sexism, we have largely concluded. Maybe we don’t negotiate hard enough. Maybe we don’t promote ourselves enough. Maybe we use “upspeak” and make ourselves sound less authoritative. Maybe we’re too combative, or not combative enough, or too nice, or not nice enough. Maybe we spend too much time focused on our children and families; maybe we’re overly ambitious career women who never had them and that makes us cold and
Few really thought this would happen. The polls all tipped Clinton. I certainly hoped that when even Clinton-unfriendly voters looked at their ballots and really pictured President Trump, they would hold their noses and check her box.
I underestimated the sheer rage of resentful white men.
Early exit polling suggests that white men broke for Trump by huge margins. Contrary to the electoral media narrative that this is all about economic anxiety and class, it’s increasingly clear that Trump’s victory is about race and gender. There is one lesson to take away from this election: Racism and sexism continue to be formidable motivating forces for tens of millions of Americans. And feminism has not come nearly as far as we thought when such a well-qualified woman can lose to such an imbecilic bully.
In any …show more content…
In the past half-century, women have made enormous gains, going to college and entering the workforce in record numbers, getting elected and appointed to increasingly higher offices, and often outperforming men in school and in the workplace. But that hasn’t been enough for us to reach the highest echelons, the positions long controlled almost entirely by white men — we still make up tiny minorities of leadership in business, law, politics, and the sciences. Many of us, feminist and not, have wondered why we aren’t getting there. It can’t be just sexism, we have largely concluded. Maybe we don’t negotiate hard enough. Maybe we don’t promote ourselves enough. Maybe we use “upspeak” and make ourselves sound less authoritative. Maybe we’re too combative, or not combative enough, or too nice, or not nice enough. Maybe we spend too much time focused on our children and families; maybe we’re overly ambitious career women who never had them and that makes us cold and