Hillary Clinton’s Candidacy Reveals Generational Schism Among Women

[Nanjeanne]

From NY Times

“I couldn’t even tell you what a feminist is,” said Ms. Tillman, 19, who is African-American. She and her friends note that the nation already has a black president; they see themselves in a postgender world. As Ms. Sandidge, also African-American, said, “I don’t find gender that important.”

A few tables away, Caela Camazine, a 19-year-old freshman, said she was “definitely” a feminist. Reproductive rights are her top priority, and the idea of a woman in the White House evokes her childhood dream of a career in medicine. It always bothered her, she said, when people referred to doctors as “he” or “him.” “Having a female president to me means opening the door for that pronoun to shift,” she said. Yet she plans to vote for a man: Mr. Sanders.

<snip>

Ann Wightman, 57, a lawyer in Centerville, Ohio, said she remembered the trial judge who “admonished me in open court that ‘if the boys must wear ties in the courtroom, so must the girls.’ ” Suzie Siegel, 57, a cancer patient in Tampa, Fla., said she was “determined to live to see” a feminist woman elected president.

So is Dana Whittle, 69. Standing in the cold at South Station in Boston last week, she took in a moment of stillness in the middle of an earthshaking personal transition. Lugging two massive bags, she was returning from South Carolina, having packed up her second home, which she was selling amid a divorce after 30 years of marriage.

Ms. Whittle, a part-time nurse, said she found the idea of a female president “extremely” important. She will probably vote for Mrs. Clinton. “I’m an old lady, and I’ve been waiting for it a longer time than most people,” she said, adding, “I burned my bra a long time ago.”

Now this is what I have felt for a long time - but of course, it's not politically correct to say. Older women want to see a woman President in their lifetime. It's driving many of the Clinton supporters. The younger women don't feel that "time clock" ticking. Of course, Clinton doesn't want you to talk about her gender when you talk about her - but she wants to talk about her gender when she wants to complain about "smears" or how it makes her somehow a non-establishment candidate or when it prays on exactly those older women goals.

More . . .http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/17/us/hillary-clintons-candidacy-reveals-generational-schism-among-women.html?smid=tw-share&_r=0

[cosmicone]

1. Free college is conning the millennials

They don't understand that Bernie can never deliver on the promise. They think "elect Bernie and college is free"

[Nanjeanne]

2. Of course. They are too stupid to understand.

[libdem4life]

5. Yes, he can. It must be done in increments...and it will be. If we can bomb the shit out of the ME

we can figure out how to put our kids through college.

NOhOPe is out of fashion. Visionaries with plans attract the people and opportunities to make it a reality. Nothing in the world was ever accomplished without it being an well-formed idea in someone's mind. From there, it makes the trip to reality.

That's why they are called Leaders or Inventors or Philosophers.

That is a Sales/Human Nature 101 class. If you think you can't, you can't. If you think you can, you can. Wisdom.

[dana_b]

6. "They don't understand"

um, okay. If you say so.

My millenial daughter's reason for voting for Bernie (I asked her this last month):

She likes that he puts climate change as one of the major human and economic disasters facing us. She and her children will have to deal with this more than I will and so I understand her worry.

She sees that her aunt lost her home to the big banks and shady mortgage practices. She believes that Bernie can deal with this since he is not in their pockets.

Bernie's dedication to protecting and not privatizing social security. She sees me on SSDi and knows my struggles/worries and she wants to have SS there for me and herself.

Yes, she DOES have hope for help with college!! She doesn't expect free college since she's already attending but she has hope for others!

She believes that Bernie is trying to genuinely understand where BLM and POC are coming from, their struggles and their frustrations that most politicians cannot or will not listen to.

Wall Street! She knows that she is not in the WS class and probably never will be. She understands that it's a rigged game and she is not part of the game!! She believes, once again, that snce Berne doesn;t take money from them, that he is best suited to deal with the problems.

The Iraq war - she knows that he was against it from the start and trusts his views on it.

Those are her reasons. You may not believe me - that's okay. We don't know each other. But what I'm saying is that SOME millenials are not all single issue self entitled kids who only want "free stuff" (not your quote, I realize). They can be complex people with various reasons for voting the way that they do.

[jeff47]

12. Your plan of hurling more insults will totally get them to vote for Clinton. (nt)

[frylock]

13. HILLARY 2016: You're too stupid

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. This has been noted

And anecdotally I have been given gender as the reason to vote for Clunton by a few older women. Not policy, not foreign policy, her gender

[amborin]

4. and between those making $250k per year and up, and those making less than $250K per year

[farleftlib]

7. This baby boomer feminist much prefers Bernie for president

The so-called 'symbolic victory' would be quite hollow with a militarist/corporatist/Wall St. president in the WH.

[liberal_at_heart]

8. I get so tired of self proclaimed feminists tell me(a woman) that

reproductive rights are the only rights and issues affecting women today. That is bullshit. Economic rights are feminist rights and in fact all human rights are feminist rights. Not only do I not vote with my vagina, I am not defined by my vagina. Women are the main caregivers and financial managers of their households. Healthcare, education, SS, living wages, and all other economic issues are feminist issues.

[DebbieCDC]

9. About this generational gap

I know MANY "older" women -- however you define that term -- who support Bernie over HRC. Some of us learned during the early days of feminism that the goal was equality -- not favoring women over men or vice-versa. Some old guard feminists just haven't changed with the times. Their feminism hasn't evolved. If all they can think about is "must have woman president at all costs no matter if said woman is qualified or trustworthy or not" then they will be left behind as the remnants of the old feminism.

Personally I find it refreshing and honest that millennial women are looking beyond gender or race or sexual orientation when they consider a candidate. This is feminist progress, racial progress, and gender progress, no matter how some try to slice and dice it.

JMO of course.

[liberal_at_heart]

10. Well said! I'm not old enough to have been part of the 60s. In fact I am about to

turn 40 and have seen nothing but same old same old resulting in the decline of the middle class, but something is in the air. A great many things are changing. The old guard of power is getting older and fading. Evangelical Christian power is waning. Old guard feminism is waning. Establishment politics is waning. Reagan economics is waning. There is change in the wind. Like you said those that don't change with it will be left behind.

[Nanjeanne]

15. I'm an older woman who supports Bernie - not sure what you mean by how "I" define the term unless

you are using the royal "you".

[Jane Austin]

11. The over-65 women I know are for Bernie.

as are their middle-aged children.

I know one 50-year-old woman who just can't see Bernie as President.

Maybe it's just an Austin thing.

[tk2kewl]

14. she broke through the glass ceiling to become part of a powerful club

turns out people don't like that club

[kiva]

16. I'm a 60 year old woman and yes, I'm sad that I may not

see a woman president in my time. I've lived through the sexist BS and having a woman elected would be a symbol that we as a nation reject it. I also roll my eyes when I hear younger women say they are living in a post-gender world but figure they will learn their own lessons about the sexism that still exists.

All of that said, I'm voting for Bernie. The survival of the 99% is more important the symbolism of electing the wrong woman as president.