The Next Big Question In Gender Politics

(An op-ed as it appears in the October, 2008 edition of Campaigns and Elections Politics Magazine)

All the obvious statements about the progress of women in politics have been made. But as the closing weeks of this historic presidential election play out, it seems appropriate to note that this year will be a watershed, whether or not Sarah Palin wins the vice presidency.

This is the year when women as top-flight candidates for top national offices became commonplace enough that, the next time it happens, few will blink an eye.

Hillary Clinton's historic primary campaign, which very nearly ended in her nomination as the Democratic Party's presidential candidate, left "18 million cracks" in that highest and hardest glass ceiling.

As she contemplates a return to the U.S. Senate, the talk is not about Clinton fading into history, but about what leadership role she will grasp next. Will she replace Sen. Ted Kennedy as the social conscience of the Senate? Will she move to the U.S. Supreme Court? As her husband, the only Democrat of the last 64 years to win two terms as president, becomes less relevant by the month, his fi rst lady is gaining in influence at a faster clip.

McCain's selection of Palin as his No. 2 had less to do, he said, with the fact she was a woman than that she was a hard-nosed reformer who faced off with powerful men in her own party and leaders of powerful industries in Alaska, and came out the winner every time.

In her early campaign speeches, Palin praised Clinton and promised to keep pounding at those 18 million cracks until the glass ceiling is broken. We will know early next month whether that effort will be successful. Polling of likely voters immediately after her selection as the GOP vice presidential candidate showed a spike in support among Republican voters, with 92 percent saying they now supported the McCain/Palin ticket. That strong response included both men and women voters. McCain has failed for years to win core Republican support, but Palin did it in an instant.

In other words, this is the year that women exuded a strength as influential as the men. As a political phenomenon, this has been happening at the local and statewide levels for years, even decades. But this is the year that women became equals at the highest level of American politics.

The fact that this is much less remarkable in this election is a tribute to the work of women throughout the political world, on both sides of the aisle. One thing is for sure: Regardless of the outcome on Nov. 4, it won't be 24 more years until another woman appears on a national political ticket.

The question in this election now is less about gender, and more about what is next-beyond gender. What is the next trend that defines the make-up of identity politics if gender is lost as an identity? What implications does this trend have on the next election, and the election after that? And crucial to answering these questions is one at the very heart of identity politics: when is a woman a woman? Can a woman candidate be supported by feminist organizations if she opposes reproductive rights? If she is a member of the National Rifle Association? Favors tax cuts for corporations? Supports the surge in Iraq? Is a woman candidate only a woman if she is liberal? But what if she is the owner of a small business, has a small stock portfolio and calls herself a member of the investor class? Or how about if she prefers shopping at Wal-Mart as opposed to Bloomingdales?

These are the very same questions that shrinking unions have had to contend with since the 1980s. Who defines what it means to be a union member-the leadership who take positions on so much more than workplace concerns or the shrinking membership base that often tends to be conservative in values? Haven't "Reagan Democrats" really become "Reagan Republicans"?

So will women who championed the historic campaign of Hillary Rodham Clinton see the same history-making opportunity in Sarah Palin's quest for the vice presidency? Is she too conservative to be a woman?

Or has the success of two women in 2008 truly put an end to gender identity politics? (10/1/2008)