By Staff
The media fanfare surrounding the ascendancy of Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. to the speaker of the House position is starting to subside, but it was a surge that never should have happened in the first place – at least, not for the reason it did.
Since the Nov. 7, 2006 election, we have heard regular reports of how Pelosi will be the first woman in the speaker's chair in Congress' 218-year history and how much of a difference this will mean for the country.
Frankly, in a historical context, this will be nothing more than a footnote.
To illustrate, on Nov. 7, 1916, Jeannette Rankin became the first woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. She ran on the Republican ticket in Montana, a state that gave women the right to vote just two years beforehand.
A well-known suffragist, Rankin entered Congress when most women were legally barred from participating in government. She was also known for her anti-war stances, being the only member of Congress to vote against the United States entering into World War I and World War II. What's more, she was also a founding vice president of the American Civil Liberties Union.
With these credentials, Rankin should fill a much more prominent position in history, but it is likely the average person does not know who she is – much like most of her male counterparts of the era.
In this age, when all Americans age 18 and older are afforded the right to vote, gender is a meaningless distinction – particularly in the realm of elected office. Yet many seem to cling to the notion that a simple fact of biology means a woman in a "traditionally male role" is a novelty.
In the upcoming 2008 presidential elections, Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., is being hoisted up as a contender for the nation's top job. This has prompted some in GOP circles to champion Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as the Republican's answer to the former first lady's possible campaign.
Both Clinton and Rice are likely qualified to be president. One has been elected to office and has seen the presidency up close, while the other leads a major executive department. Yet, many of their supporters do not back either of them for those reasons – instead, they want to see the nation's first woman president. Some of Rice's backers believe her election would be a bit of a coup, since she would also be the first black president.
Continuing to focus on the meaningless distinction of gender in political office and beyond will only serve to keep age-old stereotypes alive. But this past week has shown the mass media is all too willing to push these ideas.
The real news that happened Thursday was a shift in power in Congress, albeit a small one. Pelosi may be the first woman at the top of the House leadership, but more importantly, she's the first Democrat to sit in the speaker's chair in 12 years. That is the distinction about her that needs to be made, not one that holds nothing more than symbolic weight.