Hillary Clinton candidacy emblematic of advances, issues

By Linda Hersey

Photo by Linda Hersey

In 1987, 29-yearold Elizabeth Sawyer informed a much older male colleague from the Maine Revenue Service that she had applied to become South Portland’s tax assessor.

“I’ll never forget the man’s reply,” Sawyer recalled, chuckling. “He said to me, ’Dream on, honey. A woman will never get that job.’ ” The state tax man could not have been more wrong. Sawyer not only was tapped to be South Portland’s first female tax assessor, she also has thrived in the post for 21 years.

Her rise to the top of her profession is just one example of the undeniable progress Maine women have made in the last 10 and 20 years to attain leadership roles in business, industry and government.

But the glass ceiling still hovers over women, according to university studies and advocacy groups. They point to wage gaps and the low percentage of women in the nation’s highest posts in corporations and in government. In 2007, women earned 80 cents for every dollar earned by men, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistic. At the nation’s largest 500 corporations, women hold only 15 percent of the senior executive jobs. Americans’ views about women in leadership are in sharp focus today, as New York Sen. Hillary Clinton seeks to become the nation’s first female commander-in-chief.

Whether Clinton’s gender strengthens or hinders her is the subject of debate among pollsters and ordinary Americans. But no one is disputing the fact that Clinton’s run for president is being taken seriously, although no female candidate has ever advanced this far before in elective politics. Deborrah Jabar, a long-time political activist in Maine, describes Clinton’s candidacy as “a watershed moment for all women... Here you have a credible female candidate with broad acceptance and appeal running for the nation’s highest office.”

Working women say that Clinton’s campaign for the nation’s top job validates them and helps refocus discussion on the gender gap in the workplace.

“There is no question that there is a much greater acceptance of women in leadership roles. Hillary Clinton’s candidacy shows that,” Sawyer said.

“People don’t question my abilities to value property. I don’t hear the (gender-based) comments I did 20 years

ago,” she added. “Today, that is not acceptable. But some of those beliefs about women still exist.” Clinton’s achievements and setbacks in her run against Illinois Sen. Barack Obama for the Democratic nomination seem to resonate with working women.

Clinton is the first female to win the critical New Hampshire primary and the first woman to be seen as a viable candidate for U.S. presi- dent. But she also has endured gender-based comments on her physical appearance, including her choice of clothes, her “thick ankles,” even her voice which TV commentator Chris Matthews described as “fingernails on a blackboard.”

At one Clinton rally, a male heckler shouted, “Iron my shirt!” Although business professionals laud the strides that Clinton has made, they say the obstacles seem all too familiar.

“When a man acts strong, people admire his convictions,” Sawyer said. “When a woman is aggressive or has convictions, the adjective used for her rhymes with ’witch.’ ’’

Some people have a negative response to Clinton because of “her persona as being strong,” Sawyer added. “That has hurt me at times in my career as well.”

Clinton’s experiences also resonate with April Gaffka, a marketing consultant. She believes Clinton is seen through a narrow lens because she is a woman. Gaffka says that she is buoyed by Clinton’s candidacy, but there is no denying that a gender gap still exists.

“Have there been enormous changes for women? Hillary proves that,” said Gaffka, who is moving from South Portland to Florida. “But it still is not a level playing field by any means. Women are paid less than men. There is still this idea that it is a man’s world.”

Clinton herself has said publicly that she believes her candidacy is tougher because she is a woman.

“This is hard,” Clinton said in a TV interview. “And I don’t expect any sympathy, I don’t expect any kind of, you know, allowances or special privileges, because I knew what I was getting myself into.”

Jabar noted that women in all levels of politics have persevered for years to break through gender barriers, though they were never recognized for it.

“We shouldn’t forget that many women in Congress and at state Legislatures came before her and worked hard to pave the way,” said Jabar, a former board member of EWomen, a now-defunct non-profit that helped women seeking office. Elizabeth Stefanski, who directs the Maine Women’s Fund, says that Clinton’s candidacy “absolutely” underscores the gains women have made in the workplace and climbing the career ladder.

But, Stefanski said, there is still need for flexible work schedules, equal pay for women and greater recognition that working women often are a family’s caregiver tending to the needs of children and aging parents.