By Vanessa • 14 years ago

WaPo takes on women’s leadership…with cutesy, sexist nicknames


Not amused, guys.
Believe it or not, the Washington Post has managed to stereotyped women leaders in the worst way possible – with nicknames like “The Iron Lady” and “Grandmother in Pearls.”
These were made in a recent piece titled, “Women Leadership Styles,” asking the question: “What kinds of women run — and win? A few distinct types have emerged.” What comes out of it are completely trivialized descriptions of women with political power, examples being “The Iron Lady” as a descriptor for Hillary Clinton and Margaret Thatcher, using Sarah Palin an example for “The Young Mom,” or coining Nancy Pelosi as “The Grandmother in Pearls”:

It will be the lasting image of her Speakership: Nancy Pelosi, wielding the gavel as Democrats claimed control of the House, with a passel of small children gazing adoringly up at her. Pelosi, who speaks in her ‘mother of five voice’ when she wants to chasten unruly lawmakers and keeps crayons in her outer lobby, is a model of an older woman who uses her maternal bonafides to argue that she has the instinct and practice to care for the nation. In many respects, Pelosi’s femininity masks her true governing style, which can be unrelenting and tough.

While the snippets of information under these “types” partly attempt to address the sexist bullshit that comes with being a woman in politics, calling them their “leadership styles” in this trite way does the very thing it seeks to dispel: by simplifying these women’s identities as leaders down to their gender.
h/t to Peter.

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