It's Just Politics, Isn't It?

For more than nine months, the election has intrigued me. I’ve listened to sound bites at airports, at the gym and before bed. Whether it be the lead-up to the Republican or Democratic conventions or the actions since then, I think the U.S. is in an interesting political time – given the financial crisis we all must face and fix, the healthcare question and the environmental issues most of us are worried about. Each decision is tied to another complex issue, and the world has never been more interconnected. Care, commitment through leadership, must prevail. In all this, the analysis of Obama – the first African-American to be successfully picked as the candidate – has been interesting, but what has kept me the most interested is how the media and the general public are reviewing the women in the race – be it Geraldine Ferraro in her day, Hillary Clinton or now Sarah Palin.

When Palin entered the scene, I found it interesting that women in particular initially reviewed her and her ability to “do the job.” I hear the same questions and comments everywhere, in airports, at the gym, at gas stations and in restaurants: “Who will care for her kids while she travels the world?” “Did you hear about her daughter and her teen pregnancy?” “Should she really be doing this when she has a special-needs child?”

Following all these comments are judgments about how she would “do the job” or “if she should do the job.” Most alarming to me is who is saying all this. The men? No, each and every one of these comments came from, you got it – women! Have you ever heard any of these comments made about any man in any job or in politics? Give me a break!

I want us all to consider two points:

1. Why is it that women have not been in the field to this level before? Yes, because of all the challenge of what women are “supposed to do” – be the good support system and enable everyone around them to flourish – his career, the kids, the church, etc. I want to call your attention to an e-mail that has been making the rounds called “WHY WOMEN SHOULD VOTE” on what our sisters did, what they sacrificed to ensure we had a voice in the voting polls. Yes, it was a short 90 years ago when we would not even have been able to vote. Have you seen the pictures of our sisters in turmoil? Have you looked deep into their eyes in the black and white photos? What did you see? I see us. I see myself. I see the same passion for life, ideas of how to make things better – the same women’s instincts to take care of children regardless of where they are, the same intellect for business and leading teams to greatness. I think the eyes we see in those pictures would be the same eyes we’d see now if there were black and white pictures of each of you. How would they feel about the comments made about either Hillary or Sarah, who are paving the way for all of us in all sectors of business and industry? I think they would have some passionate words, given all they went through.

2. I want to shout from the rooftops is what caused my intense and passionate ambition for starting a movement called WOLF (yes, named after the leadership of wolves in the wild) to reinvent business, build leaders, give back and, yes, get the voices (in this case women’s voices) in the room – in the discussions, in the most impactful stages to make change happen in business and in the lives they lead. And all because we are loyal, we stick together, we support each other and we open doors for each other – just like wolves in the wild. My ambition, the catalyst for starting this more than four years ago, was because a male executive told me I was so very respected for my business prowess, but “Julie, the ones that hate you are the women.” And, oh, by the way, those women had never had a coffee with me, let alone a conversation about who I was, my hobbies, my family, my passions, me. I believe they were judging me based on their own insecurities. They were playing out the age-old, “I hate you because you have what I don’t” – the great guy, the great career or whatever it may be. Simply ridiculous insecurities.

Ladies, when are we going to start supporting each other, calling out the brilliance, the beauty, the talent, and opening the doors for each other that have been so firmly slammed shut for so many years? I am not advocating support of any particular candidate, as I voraciously support making your own vote. However, if you aren’t willing to find the talents in Hillary or Sarah or whichever sister comes next, who in the world will? Do you think the guys behave this way? Give me a call on that!

By Julie Gilbert