A small hint, courtesy of Martin Mull:
Men, men, men.
It’s a ship all filled with men.
You’ll never have to lift the seat; there’s no one here but men
Men, Men, Men, Men
Men, Men, Men, Men
So here we are in the 21st Century, in good old progressive Vermont, reputedly the most liberal state in the union. And when President Obama comes to town, what do we get? A penis party. It’s pretty damn appalling. If anyone tells you we’ve attained gender equality in America, just show ’em this picture.
Did anyone in the Democratic Party or the Shumlin Administration give any thought to the optics of this? Could they have invited Deb Markowitz or Liz Miller along, just for show? Or possibly Vermont’s Designated Gender Pioneer Madeleine Kunin? Why not. Does Bernie have a female aide? Bring her along, man.
Look, I realize this is a small sample size, it’s entirely symbolic, and Governor Shumlin is fully committed to equal rights and blah blah blah. But that photo might as well have been taken in 1956 (well, except for the black President thing, and Vermont gets no points for that). In the year 2012, pictures like this shouldn’t exist anymore.
But they do. And there’s the rub.
After the jump: Let’s do the numbers.
I spent a little time looking at some government rosters, and I noticed a trend: the closer you get to the hub of political power, the more people with penises you will find. The State House has 59 women out of 150 members; not bad, could be better. The Senate has 11 women and 19 men; probably beats Mississippi by a comfy margin.
Governor Shumlin’s Cabinet has nine men and three women. That’s about the minimum acceptable number for an Administration that claims a commitment to equality.
Statewide elected offices: Five men and one woman — Beth Pearce. Who, for the record, was appointed to the post of Treasurer to replace Jeb Spaulding. She’ll be in her first-ever election campaign this fall.
House Speaker? Male. Senate President? Male.
Congressional delegation, I probably don’t have to tell you: three men, no women. What’s more, Vermont has never, ever sent a woman to Congress.
That’s a disgrace.
In some ways, Vermont has fully earned its liberal reputation. In other ways, it’s a very hidebound place. And the world of Vermont political power is still a men’s club. That fact was on display last Friday on the BTV tarmac.
in St. Albans City. Only the second one in history…and the first one was murdered.
We love our Democratic Senator Sara Kittell, but I think she has a tough time being a farmer and part-time legislator. No silver spoon to lean on. Every new term she serves is a personal act of heroism.
And a few of the higher level ones, in terms of gender equality, at least when compared to most other states, but that picture really emphasizes that we’re still not quite there.
Unfortunately, Vermont is probably one of the few states in the US where white male politicians are not risking their political futures by walking behind a Kenyan Muslim terrorist.
There’s a whole lotta stoopid out there, if you think it’s bad there you ain’t seen nothing.
Women should be running for office at every level and it doesn’t matter how good the incumbent is on women’s issues. Are there men who are taking the lead and really making the case that there is a (continuing) war on women? Not from my vantage point. Not here or anywhere else in the country. This isn’t an issue like gay marriage where you plot your strategy and support marriage when the timing is right and the political winds are in your favor. The war on women is ever-present. As a gay man whose orientation represents 10 percent of the population, and who has benefited from activism of so many people (mostly women, I’d argue) I say it’s way past time we stand up for and support women, who make up over half the population. This country will be all the better off with women in charge.
…is that it looks CORPORATE. The Boys on Wall St. heading into a board meeting to work on another bail-out. So the gender issue seems solidified by this photo that says: “Hey, running the economy, the country, the state, the WORLD, this is a guy thing.” I’m kind of glad Bernie didn’t bring a female aide because it would almost look worse. The token woman aide to the guys. There to do the shit work.
Thank you for pointing this out. With the Republican War On Women going on, you’d think one of these boys would have had the sense and sincerity to have invited both Kunin and Markowitz. Sad to see such a CORPORATE image in Vermont.
Did they watch the game after their meeting?
Do you remember the last time President Obama met a woman on the tarmac?
Here’s the photo…
http://images.politico.com/glo…
THAT was a disgrace.
In my current job this is something we’ve been laboring over all year constantly, and it’s a really difficult question to answer. The reality is that we just need better leadership identification and training programs happening at the lower level. Unfortunately, the people doing that in the most prominent way are EMILY’s List and I’d argue that their impact is far from overwhelmingly positive, given that they’re frequently advocating more conservative candidates in districts where there are progressive Democrats running who can win the general. This year has been a tougher one especially – once you move past folks like Elizabeth Warren, Tammy Baldwin, Lori Saldana, Annie Kuster, and Lois Frankel, it gets tougher and tougher to find great, progressive women running for office.
In my current job this is something we’ve been laboring over all year constantly, and it’s a really difficult question to answer. The reality is that we just need better leadership identification and training programs happening at the lower level. Unfortunately, the people doing that in the most prominent way are EMILY’s List and I’d argue that their impact is far from overwhelmingly positive, given that they’re frequently advocating more conservative candidates in districts where there are progressive Democrats running who can win the general. This year has been a tougher one especially – once you move past folks like Elizabeth Warren, Tammy Baldwin, Lori Saldana, Annie Kuster, and Lois Frankel, it gets tougher and tougher to find great, progressive women running for office.