Sarah Palin is an American born on February 11, 1964. She became a politician and served as Alaska’s governor between 2006 and 2009. She joined the Republican Party through registration in 1982. She was a member of the Republican Party which nominated her as the presidential nominee in 2008. She was the first elected female governor of Alaska and was also the youngest governor Alaska had ever had. She is also the author of the book ‘Going Rogue’. She was brought up in Alaska. She schooled in the University of Idaho to obtain her bachelor’s degree after which she worked as a sports reporter in Alaska. She was later married to Todd Palin in 1988 and is a mother of five children.
Despite the changes in women’s social and political roles, the press does not provide an extensive coverage of women candidates as it does for men. It makes it more difficult for women to win political posts discouraging them from running for the posts. The media coverage of more than five women candidates who vied for political positions has proven to treat women unfairly. Unfair treatment arose from the number of articles that covered women candidates and those that covered male candidates. Those for women were half as many as those covering men. Also, the articles covering men appeared longer than those of women. This was evident in the race for presidency involving Obama and Clinton. They also covered more issues in the articles related to men than for women. The press also tends to concentrate on the looks of women as contrasted to men. The fact that the press discriminates against women candidates based on gender is unacceptable and affects the nation at large since it affects its democratic nature. This discrimination needs to be put to an end. For America to have an equal society, every person should have an equal chance to get into power. Discrimination of women candidates, on the other hand, works contrary to social equality (Katz, 2008 p49).
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Women can overcome this challenge by expressing minimal emotions to avoid the attention of the press. They can also work hand in hand with their political supporters to raise public voices against bias and unfair treatment by the press. They should also engage more in campaigns which have a positive impact on the society which will prove that they can be effective policy formulators. Last but not least, women should view it normal to run for candidacy. This will help reduce press aim to portray it an extraordinary event (Hart, 2011 p60).
Although the media coverage of women candidates has improved, women still experience stereotyping regarding coverage. The media focuses on the positive ideas for men favoring their success in the upcoming elections while it focuses on the negative issues that make it likely for a woman to lose the presidential elections. The media tends to belittle women and prove their incompetence. They focus on issues that do not count politically such as attire rather than focusing on their attitudes towards political issues that affect the public. The media tends to categorize the women candidates between ‘hot’ and ‘not’ bases on looks and attire withdrawing the public’s attention from the important political aspects. They ignore the women’s beliefs and values which could otherwise help the nation (Johnston, 2011 p56).
This view of the media comes along with the public belief that leadership positions are meant for specific people. Once they hear of a leader, what comes to their mind is a white male president. This affects women negatively and destroys their morale to advance their political career. It pushes women further behind men by reducing the political leadership opportunities. Whenever women vie for political leadership positions, the gender is seen first then their candidature comes second.
Sarah Palin faced the same challenge of press bias which was faced by Hillary Clinton and other women who had previously vied for political positions. While Sarah had the Republican ticket for vice president nominee, the media posed a challenge by being skeptical about a woman running for a political seat. The bias displayed by the media limited Sarah’s campaigns as the media reduced her chances of success in the elections. The media tried to show that women were not good enough as political leaders and were rather sex objects and mothers whose role would not allow them to become political leaders. The media uses this opportunity to criticize women by rhetorically asking how they will manage the political role and balance it with being good mothers. However, they do not go ahead to criticize men as ask whether they will still be good fathers as they manage their political role. This shows their support for the male politicians over the female politicians amounting to bias. The media, on the contrary, should be a tool to enhance gender mainstreaming and equality. Women should be the item of focus only on issues where they are disadvantaged to help them rise but not bringing them down.
Before engaging in politics, Sarah had established a career in television casting where she worked as a sports anchor. She later ventured into politics on 1992 where she became part of Wasilla city council. In 1996, she campaigned and successfully became the mayor of Alaska. She served as Alaska’s mayor for two terms and later became Conservation Commission to the Oil and Gas industry. In 2006, Sarah was elected as the first female governor of Alaska. In 2008, she was selected as John McCain’s presidential running mate although they lost the elections. In 2009, Sarah resigned from the governor’s position and focused on writing books. She withdrew from public politics and remained as an eye of the public (McGinniss, 2011 p127).
As the mayor of Alaska, Sarah served for six years through which she made some accomplishments. Her major focus was on infrastructure improvement. She implemented an increase in the rate of sales tax which generated additional revenue for development purposes. Later in 2002, she launched campaigns for the governor’s position in Alaska. Despite losing the election, she built a good profile which led to her appointment to the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission by Frank Murkowsi, who won the governor’s seat. Sarah, however, did resign from the commission when she launched an investigation of Ruedrich, who was also part of the committee and the chair lady of the Republican Party in which she experienced resistance.
On leaving the commission, she later joined the Democratic lawmakers in which they performed an investigation of the attorney general who was a close friend of the governor, Frank. This affected Frank negatively in his political career favoring Sarah’s success in her nomination for the Republican’s governor’s ticket in 2006 where more than half of the voters voted in her favor. Following her nomination, Sarah went ahead to the general elections where she was successfully elected the governor of Alaska. She later resigned her post on 26 June 2009. She later became the spokesperson for the Tea Party movement where she delivered an address during the movement’s first convention. With her support, some of the movement’s candidates were able to defeat the Republican candidates despite their popularity. Later on, Sarah has attended various television shows on politics to air her public views as a commenter regarding the political situation. She also hosted reality shows on the TLC network known as Sarah Palin’s Alaska in 2010 and Sportsman Channel called Amazing American in 2014.
While she was the mayor of Alaska, Sarah took a voluntary cut in her salary to set an example to the other leaders. Later on, she also helped in energy conservation as she was appointed to the Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. As the governor of Alaska, Sarah has had many achievements. One of them is an executive authority which is reflected by her election as the first female governor of Alaska. Sarah also had financial accomplishments where she reduced public expenditure by over nine percent between 2007 and 2010. She also increased the level of national savings by five billion dollars which were used to fund education and other programs for low-income citizens. She also suggested the investment of over two billion dollars to the public education fund. She also has economic achievements where she anticipated a fall in oil prices and instituted temporary stoppage to the hiring process to cut on expenditure during the period. She also signed a contract to oppose the tax on aviation fuel. Sarah also exhibited skills of fiscal management where she converted Alaska’s pension scheme from a contribution scheme.
As a presidential candidate, she gave an incentive to other women to actively participate in politics. Sarah had her first child in April 1989. Her husband engaged in commercial fishing where Sarah helped to earn a living for her family. In 2008, after Sarah’s nomination as the vice-president, Sarah’s daughter was pregnant. She announced that her daughter, Bristol, had to marry Levi Johnston, who was her child’s father. Although the two later broke up, Sarah played a major role in ensuring that the child received parental care from both parents and would not be deprived of fatherly love. Bristol’s child, Track Palin, who was born with Down’s syndrome, later joined the Army in 2007. Sarah’s offered significant support for Track.
Sarah’s political life has raised a new agenda as to the role of women in politics. Traditionally, women’s role in politics had not been established. However, over time, women have acquired more rights and freedom to engage in politics. The question, however, remains; do women have equal rights and confidence with men when it comes to politics? This question has been answered following an investigation of the evolution of the role of women in American politics which has proven that the role of women has become more established compared to earlier years. However, there still exists a limit arising from the traditional beliefs which people have acquired with time. It has been discovered that the average level of earnings for women is still lower than that of men globally. Although some nations in South America have, the United States just like many other nations has never had a female president. The goal of achieving gender balance in politics seems to be progressing very slowly. However, there has been some significant progress such as the right to vote which was granted to women almost a century ago.
Women have tried to bridge the gap that exists between them and their male counterparts by increasing their competitiveness in the work environment. However, this has not narrowed the gap that exists between their levels of income. Women have also shown competence in running for the presidential seat, however, none of them has been successful in winning the presidential seat. Women have a great role to play in overcoming this challenge of gender inequality. No matter how much today’s society claims to value gender equality, they are tied by some traditions that pull them back in some instances. Presidential women candidates could have much more to offer than their male counterparts, but the society bases their decision on gender-denying the nation a chance to experience a new phase of ideas. Women could be more promising, but nobody gives them a chance to show what they have to offer to the world (Hart, 2011 p63).
The role of women in politics has been interpreted further as providing women with information and knowledge necessary to fight gender inequality in the society. It also means giving them the incentive to work towards the attainment of gender equality. Women have the responsibility to impact change on the society as need arises. This comes with improved social conventions which will help women attain a social position equal to that of the society (Palin, 2009 p72).
According to public reviews, women appear to have equal qualifications with those of men politically. However, there are barriers that exist among them that prevent women from succeeding politically. Women possess all the capabilities that are possessed by their male equivalents. They can be good political leaders just like men. Placed in a boardroom setting, women have equal capability to dominate the boardroom as observed in the organization with organization culture that does not discriminate against women. They have the voice to speak out their ideas and argue their case. They also have the influential capability, where they argue for a policy and defend it as required (Beail & Longworth, 2013 p82).
Focusing on leadership traits, most Americans were of the view that it is difficult to distinguish women’s leadership traits from those of men. Women posses similar key traits of innovation and intelligence. Women also have an additional train that is critical for a leader which makes than even better leaders. Women are more compassionate and organized. Compassion allows them to relate well with their subordinates. This leads to the conclusion that with more women political leaders, it political wars could be unheard of. Women care for the well-being of those under their rule and could work against the negative consequences of political wars on the citizens. Also, the trait of organization allows them to run activities smoothly without missing fine details. Under this consideration, women would perform better than men in performing their political duties.
Research has also shown that women have some gender roles that limit them in advancing their political and other careers. Women are faced with the challenge of balancing motherhood with political and leadership careers since both are time demanding. Women have the responsibility of raising and maintaining their families. They have some chores that cannot be delegated such as motherhood. As a result, they have to choose between their chores and career where most of them choose their chores. This makes it difficult for them to vie for top leadership positions which demand a high level of commitment. The public opinion explains that these roles are the reason why there are very few women in leadership positions both politically and in business.
Another reason why women have not fully ventured in the political environment is that women are required to prove to the public that they are capable of performing while their male counterparts have an easier way through the process. Also, the American electorate could also be unwilling to have more women occupying the top leadership position. As a result, women engaging in politics have lower chances than the male politicians in the electorate positions (McGinniss, 2011).
It has also been discovered that the most developed countries like America have accommodated more women in leadership positions. Women in these positions have also been observed to have more distinct and profound contribution to policy formulation. Their priorities are focused on women rights and other public policies and are more open-minded regarding public policy.
Other regions like the Middle East have also been experiencing a similar challenge. However, women in nations like Egypt and Afghanistan have begun to experience higher levels of freedom. In these countries, the male gender was so dominant that the women were suppressed. The nations had formulated Burka laws that put a lot of restrictions on women. However, with time, these laws eased and made friendlier (Hart, 2011 p57).
The role of women in international politics also influences their position in their domestic country as it provides insight and motivation to women which serve as a wake-up call. The goal of gender equality has also been limited by other concerns such as culture and religious concerns. In some instances, promoting women rights works against some religious beliefs and appears as religious criticism. Further, it is disappointing that many women suggest that restrictions placed upon women are acceptable based on their cultural and religious practices.
Women’s education has also played a great role in this issue. Although the percentage of women accessing education has increased over the past decades, men still have an upper hand as compared to women. Education gives an individual more a more powerful voice. As a result, women need to achieve higher levels of education which will help them express their views in the public yielding political power. This explains the difference in the level of confidence between men and women. Women in politics have worked together to break the prevailing patterns of male dominance which have led to a change in the political environment (McGinniss, 2011 p62).
More than half of the public views stated that men will continue to hold more top positions than women in the future. However, American women still have hope that the situation is improving, and the first American president is about to be sworn in the income levels have also increasingly improved and could achieve a reduced gap between the levels of income of men and women. However, women cannot do this on their own as they need support from the voters. If only everybody believed in women, there could be a social change which could aid in the achievement of gender equality.
References
Beail, L. & Longworth, R. (2013). Framing Sarah Palin : New York: Routledge.
Hart, D. (2011). From Billy Graham to Sarah Palin : Grand Rapids, Mich.: W.B. Eerdmans Pub.
Johnston, L. (2011). Deer in the headlights : New York: Touchstone/Simon & Schuster.
Katz, S. (2008). Thanks but no thanks . Arlington, Mass.: Harvard Perspectives Press.
McGinniss, J. (2011). The rogue : New York: Crown.
Palin, S. (2009). Going rogue : New York: Harper.
