Dr. Kelly Winfrey visited Emporia State on Oct. 24 to discuss the intersection of gender in political campaigns. Winfrey, whose research focuses on the subject matter, is the director of Women and Gender Studies and an associate professor at the Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication at Iowa State University.
In her talk, Winfrey discussed the history of women in political campaigns and the double-bind women face in having to display leadership characteristics while also being feminine or “nice” enough. Winfrey pointed to former Secretary of State and 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s portrayal as an “iron maiden” and the sexualization of former Alaska governor and Senator John McCain’s 2008 vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin during the 2008 election. Winfrey also offered a personal anecdote, detailing how she experienced this herself when running for the school board when someone called her “abrasive.”
Addressing vice presidential candidate JD Vance’s comments about the nation being run by “childless cat ladies,” Winfrey turned her attention to this year’s election and the way that both presidential tickets rhetorically enact two very different conceptions of gender.
According to Winfrey, Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign is non-traditional to start with because Harris is a woman seeking a position of power. Harris’s running mate, Tim Walz, enacts what Winfrey calls “new masculinity”; he has traditionally masculine characteristics and interests such as hunting, but he is also okay with being second in command to a woman and is not afraid to show empathy. In addition, Walz calls Vance “weird,” which Winfrey says cleverly undermines Vance’s machismo self-presentation.
Winfrey finds that former President Donald Trump’s campaign enacts more traditional gender roles, with Trump calling himself a “protector” and Vance’s belief that those who have children have more “stake in this country. Winfrey also addressed the remarks made by Trump that frame women as sexual objects, such as him denigrating 2016 Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina’s face and his comments about grabbing women’s bodies.
Winfrey said she has found that a lot of men feel that masculinity is under attack. While women and minorities have indicated that things have gotten better for them during the last two decades, men’s survey results show that they feel things have been the same or worse for them. Winfrey believes this to be one of the reasons the Trump and Vance ticket is so appealing to men.
On the topic of voting, she discussed that research shows women vote more than men, and that when party is not a factor, women tend to vote for other women more. She also indicated that women tend to vote less conservatively than men, with the exception of white women.
At the end of her speech, Winfrey took questions from the audience. One audience member asked about a law in North Carolina that allows married couples to vote together. In response, Winfrey addressed how important it is for women to have privacy while voting so they don’t feel pressured to vote the same way as their spouse.
Winfrey gave this advice to voters: “When voting it’s important to learn who the candidates are. Look beyond what people say to see what the general world view is that’s being embraced.”
