There is a time when music becomes the best politics. From its lilting cadences and bursts of staccato to its heartrending twins of harmony and melody, music can be a truly transformative medium and a powerful instrument of human connection. Yesterday, The New York Philharmonic gave an unprecedented concert in Pyongyang, leaving many to question […]

While we wind down this year’s nominating season, and with it, the possibility of our nation’s first woman president, the New York Times reported today on President Bush’s visit to another first and only, Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. She is the much beloved leader of a country whose current situation makes any economic issues […]

There’s been a lot of discussion these past few days about Senator Clinton in response to my Table for One posts. Of course, in the current political climate, it makes sense to reference her historic bid for the presidency when discussing women’s political leadership. But it’s also important not to conflate her candidacy with broader […]

One of the best things to come out of this election season is how gender has re-entered the public arena and political debate. In previous election years, women have been relegated to the background. But in 2008, issues of gender and power are very much in the forefront. Since readers brought so many comments, I […]

In last week’s New York Times op-ed, “When Women Rule,” Nicholas Kristof referenced a telling case study of Indian women who (by law) form one-third of village council positions. The study found that women ran the villages better than men, but that they were often judged as having done a worst job than their male […]

Over the course of this election to date, I have read with interest the speculation by many, most recently Maureen Dowd, that the intense scrutiny Hillary Clinton has faced in her candidacy for the democratic nomination may have less to do with her gender than it has to do with some flaw in her personality—her […]

Recently, cable network MSNBC posed this question to voters in an exit poll: “With the field of Democratic candidates reduced to two, who would make the best Commander in Chief of the United States Armed Forces?” Senator Hillary Clinton was the clear favorite, besting her male opponent 50% to 35%–a ratio that surprised any number […]

“Agonizing choice.” That was the Boston Globe‘s take on what women voters faced in yesterday’s historic Super Tuesday contest. Perhaps many Democratic women did negotiate a difficult personal and political decision during yesterday’s primary. But instead of framing women as distressed and ambivalent, we should be celebrating the fact that this election season has finally […]