Breaking News- Political Wives are not extensions of their husbands!
In our political culture, there is a longstanding tradition of treating political wives as an extension of their politician husbands. This tradition does not exist when a man is married to a female politician. Case in point, the Clintons. How many times has Hillary been targeted, named and shamed for the actions of her husband? Too many times to count. Whereas Bill is never targeted for things his wife does as a politician.
I studied women’s studies and could give you a long feminist analysis of why this tradition exists, but the simple short answer is sexism.
All too often, political wives are treated as nothing more than extensions of their husbands.
As a political wife, I have experienced this on a number of occasions. Here is a particularly cringe-worthy experience from today. I reached out to offer my services for a cause I support and was told that I wasn’t welcome to assist this group because the person heading it doesn’t like my husband.
Their reasoning was that if I helped collect donations for people in need, I would try to give all of the credit to my husband, which would inevitably result in him getting positive press and making him look good.
Apparently this chain of events would devalue the contribution that the group was trying to make to society.
At first I thought this seemingly progressive person from the group must have misunderstood me. This individual who prides themselves on equality and social justice wouldn’t simply view me as a mere extension of my husband—would they?! Continue reading “How NOT To Be A Sexist Jerk: 3 Things Political Wives Wish You Knew”
