It’s much more than ‘he said, she said’

Donald Trump is making headlines by questioning the “looks” and “stamina” of his rival Hillary Clinton, and attacking a former Miss Universe. But while gender plays a big role in the US presidential race – especially after the candidates’ first public debate last week – it’s not just about Donald and Hillary. For the first time in its history, America has a realistic chance of getting a female commander-in-chief, and that’s a big deal.
The issue, therefore, is not Trump’s treatment of women. His unorthodox style may be making more headlines than Hillary Clinton at the moment,
but she is the real political issue as far as the United States is concerned.
There has been much talk of Trump’s weird behaviour and of how America has never seen a presidential candidate quite like him, but the truth is that every political arena is crawling with male chauvinists of his kind. The really “weird” thing is that Hillary Clinton is on the threshold of power.
That brings us to a related “weird” quirk of history. Despite proclaiming itself as the land of the free and a model democracy, the United States has never had a female president.
Of course, men outnumber women in every political system, but all sorts of nations have had female leaders. Argentina, Australia, Bangladesh, Denmark, Britain, Germany, India, Norway, the Philippines, Pakistan, South Korea and Indonesia are among countries that have had women in charge. Even Thailand, the US State Department’s current diplomatic punchbag, has seen its first female prime minister.
American women have fought a long and hard battle for equality of political representation. That makes the absence of a female leader throughout the country’s 240-year history all the more puzzling.
Women won the right to vote in US elections in 1920, and they outnumber men in America. On average they even live longer than men. The female US football team are doing better in international competitions than their male counterparts. Serena Williams has been the queen of international tennis for years while her male compatriots have struggled since Pete Sampras’ retirement.
The most glaring irony, perhaps, is how America treated Monica Lewinsky after her revelations of a sexual affair with Hillary’s husband Bill Clinton while he was president. The president’s confession led to a media feeding frenzy, but it didn’t stop him from leaving the White House with a very high public approval rating, Meanwhile, Lewinsky’s reputation has been trashed in what many say is a case of double standards.
Now, imagine a similar scandal involving Hillary.
Trump is being battered by charges of sexism. He repeatedly interrupted Hillary Clinton during the presidential debate in what some saw as a bullying male manner. He questioned her stamina, but that earned a stinging retort. “As soon as he travels to 112 countries and negotiates a peace deal, and a ceasefire, a release of dissidents … he can talk to me about stamina,” said Clinton.
Trump’s criticism of a former Miss Universe for her weight gain also made headlines in reports of the debate.
To be fair to Trump, he has probably treated male opponents even more rudely, and Clinton also interrupted him during the debate. Many of his supporters even considered him “too restrained” during the face-off with the Democratic candidate. Calling the former beauty queen “Miss Piggy” was no doubt nasty, but if such remarks disqualified you from office, the majority of the world’s male politicians would be wiped out by now.
America thinks that the great novelty in this presidential campaign is Trump, whereas it’s actually Hillary Clinton. If he is elected president, nothing much will change. If she is, America as we know it will never be quite the same.