One of Hillary's many barriers to cross........women have a higher standard to meet to be considered "authentic". Men get much more acceptance, or a pass.
http://www.newsweek.com/hillary-clinton-women-problem-explained-369153
And I think that's only one of many subconscious prejuduces that any woman has to contend with, but when you are going for the presidency those biases may be amped up significantly.
I may have told this story on SL before, but I think it fits here.....
I have a naturally lower-toned voice which when I was teaching I thought gave me an advantage as being perceived as having authority. I sound sure of myself, confident - often more so than I was, I think. When I started teaching high school I was still 21 years old, I had some male students who were 18 years old and much bigger than I was. I asked myself through that first semester "what do I do if they won't obey me?" It never happened! In 25 years of teaching high school and college, I never had a discipline problem with any student.
When working for Dept of Army I, on about 3 or 4 occasions, had men tell me that I was intimidating, which surprised me. On one occasion, I was a peer of the man and had hired him to train some facilitators in my program. I sat in as a participant of the training. At one point he said it was absolutely necessary to have a 5 year and 10 year career plan if you are to be successful. I countered, in what I thought was a pleasant way, that the two jobs that I had held in Dept of Army had each not been in existence 10 years before I got the job and the one he and I both held at that moment had not been in existence 5 years before, so we could not have planned them, that sometimes you have to be open to opportunity. ......He was not happy with my response.
A few days later each trainee had to do a sample facilitation with the group. I did mine and waited at the front of the room for feedback from the group. He said "I think you were intimidating in your presentation." I thought "o.k. Jean, listen up, you may learn something." And I asked what I had done that Was intimidating. He said, "you walked up to the easel, planted your feet, squared your shoulders and seemed overly confident." I said "o.k.." Fortunately I didn't have to say anything else because two women who knew me slightly answered him. One was a young Captain who said," that's exactly how officers in the military are trained to make a presentation, you know what your goal is and you stand tall on two feet and present. I thought Jean showed confidence and competence about what she was doing and led the group just the way we have talked about all week." I could have kissed her! A civilian woman spoke up saying "I don't think anybody on Ft Dix thinks Jean Perry is intimidating. She's trained all of us at one time or another and she's a good trainer." More mental kisses......
I find women have a very fine line to tread and it isn't always easy to see, or feel, the line. Most of the time I think we don't even know we've crossed someone else's line as to what they think is ACCEPTABLE for OUR behavior. My good thoughts go out to any woman who is stepping up/out/over the line that has been drawn for us over centuries by the power group who has made the rules and don't understand the "other's" experiences, which they haven't have, but judge the "other" nontheless.
Jean
http://www.newsweek.com/hillary-clinton-women-problem-explained-369153
And I think that's only one of many subconscious prejuduces that any woman has to contend with, but when you are going for the presidency those biases may be amped up significantly.
I may have told this story on SL before, but I think it fits here.....
I have a naturally lower-toned voice which when I was teaching I thought gave me an advantage as being perceived as having authority. I sound sure of myself, confident - often more so than I was, I think. When I started teaching high school I was still 21 years old, I had some male students who were 18 years old and much bigger than I was. I asked myself through that first semester "what do I do if they won't obey me?" It never happened! In 25 years of teaching high school and college, I never had a discipline problem with any student.
When working for Dept of Army I, on about 3 or 4 occasions, had men tell me that I was intimidating, which surprised me. On one occasion, I was a peer of the man and had hired him to train some facilitators in my program. I sat in as a participant of the training. At one point he said it was absolutely necessary to have a 5 year and 10 year career plan if you are to be successful. I countered, in what I thought was a pleasant way, that the two jobs that I had held in Dept of Army had each not been in existence 10 years before I got the job and the one he and I both held at that moment had not been in existence 5 years before, so we could not have planned them, that sometimes you have to be open to opportunity. ......He was not happy with my response.
A few days later each trainee had to do a sample facilitation with the group. I did mine and waited at the front of the room for feedback from the group. He said "I think you were intimidating in your presentation." I thought "o.k. Jean, listen up, you may learn something." And I asked what I had done that Was intimidating. He said, "you walked up to the easel, planted your feet, squared your shoulders and seemed overly confident." I said "o.k.." Fortunately I didn't have to say anything else because two women who knew me slightly answered him. One was a young Captain who said," that's exactly how officers in the military are trained to make a presentation, you know what your goal is and you stand tall on two feet and present. I thought Jean showed confidence and competence about what she was doing and led the group just the way we have talked about all week." I could have kissed her! A civilian woman spoke up saying "I don't think anybody on Ft Dix thinks Jean Perry is intimidating. She's trained all of us at one time or another and she's a good trainer." More mental kisses......
I find women have a very fine line to tread and it isn't always easy to see, or feel, the line. Most of the time I think we don't even know we've crossed someone else's line as to what they think is ACCEPTABLE for OUR behavior. My good thoughts go out to any woman who is stepping up/out/over the line that has been drawn for us over centuries by the power group who has made the rules and don't understand the "other's" experiences, which they haven't have, but judge the "other" nontheless.
Jean
