Thursday, January 04, 2007

"Suited for politics" or The Baltimore Sun shows its true colors

Today when I came into work, I took a look at today's Baltimore Sun in the break room. On the front page is this headline:

Suited for politics: As Nancy Pelosi becomes the first female speaker of the House, she's already winning votes for her fashion sense

Now, this isn't the only article the Sun ran about Pelosi today, a quick search of their site lists at least two others, yet the fashion article is the one on the front page.
Strangely enough, the last paragraphs of the article addresses the issue that female politicians are covered differently by the press.
Public interest about style for female leaders may be unavoidable, though. No less a political player than Hillary Rodham Clinton, whose hairstyles have been dissected endlessly since before she became first lady in 1992, told National Public Radio last month, "They [the voters] get to take a measure of you. They get to decide whether they like your position on energy or whether they like your hairstyle. It's all fair game."

Osolind, of Re:Invention, says female politicians "have good reason to long for the day that they can silence the conversation about their clothes."

"We should be focusing our attention on Pelosi's diplomacy and new Congress agenda," she says.

I long for the day when women in leadership positions are analyzed for their skills, not their style.

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