Politics

NYT Sunday Review Blames Sexism For Clinton’s Loss

REUTERS/Joshua Roberts

Amber Athey Podcast Columnist
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The New York Times Sunday Review is blaming sexism for Hillary Clinton’s loss, forcing the politicized message into a piece on female CEOs.

The article about female CEOs, titled “Why Women Aren’t C.E.O.s, According to Women Who Almost Were,” begins with a sentimental tribute to Clinton–“a reminder of the limits women continue to confront.”  The rest of the piece is clearly framed around Clinton’s loss and the role sexism may have played in her failure.

“A year ago, dressed in suffragette white and addressing a cheering, weeping convention, Hillary Clinton stood for possibility,” the author, Susan Chira, writes. “Now she is a reminder of the limits women continue to confront — in politics and beyond.”

The piece continues on much the same way, blaming men’s attitudes toward women and entrenched barriers for women’s inability to get to the top spot in their companies. The message is clear–Clinton lost because men weren’t ready for or couldn’t envision a female president.

“The parallels with politics are striking,” Chira finally claims, getting back to the beloved Clinton. “Research in both fields, including some conducted after Mrs. Clinton’s loss, has shown it’s harder for assertive, ambitious women to be seen as likable, and easier to conclude they lack some intangible, ill-defined quality of leadership.”

Chira goes back to her almost-CEOs for a minute, who complain that they are seen as overtly aggressive by men, before switching right back to Clinton.

“For her part, Mrs. Clinton is writing a book and speaking out more acidly than she allowed herself on the campaign trail,” she writes. “‘Certainly, misogyny played a role’ in her defeat, she told a rapt, partisan crowd at the Women in the World summit meeting in April.”

Clinton manages to snag the concluding paragraph of the article as well.

“The fury and revulsion aimed at Mrs. Clinton — as well as the more open misogyny in some quarters in the wake of the election — has led many women to question whether they’ve underestimated a visceral recoil against women taking power in any arena,” Chira asserts.

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