That Pesky Glass Ceiling

A few weeks ago the Daily Universe had a front page article about Sarah Palin and while I think she is a loon who should not be given attention, there is something else that I would like to address; the glass ceiling.

All during the 2008 democratic primaries, Senator Hillary Clinton spoke of breaking that glass ceiling, as if being president would mean that equality in the work place and in the culture has been equalized. Susan Merrill, of the aforementioned linked article, said that Sarah Palin has come close to breaking the glass ceiling as well.

Frankly, I think this is bull. I am not so sure there is a glass ceiling. Why? Cause female politicians are elected. They run for office. They are in House of Representatives, The Senate, the Supreme Court and run fairly for president. Is there a disparancy in congress about the number of women elected vs the number of men? Women held 15% of the seats in congress in 2006 I believe. But does that necessarily mean that there is a gender inequality?

I think that since more women and more women are running, that no, it does not mean there is gender inequality. Which is why I think that glass ceiling was probably shattered when Senator Clinton ran for the presidency. She was allowed to run, and no one maligned her for being a woman. She was not treated unfairly by the candidates. Maybe there were some negative stereotypical ads from a small group, but not by the opponents.

So from my point of view, the glass ceiling has been shattered. Shattered and mocked, depending on how you view certain vice presidential picks... But regardless, Senator Clinton ran and was close to winning. She didn't lose the Democratic primary because she was a woman, she lost because more people voted for Obama. Even during the vice presidential debate, Joe Biden could have trounced and ripped Sarah Palin a new one, based on her politics. But he didn't. Doing so would have played in McCain's hands who was using Palin to win the election. In that case, since Biden went easy on her, the glass ceiling was existent, for fear of looking like a sexist.

But regardless, women can run for political office and can have any job they chose. Yes, there are some wage discrepancies, but those are being solved slowly.

So with all that in mind, if a female politician mentions breaking the glass ceiling, I take it to mean that one her arguments for being elected is because she is a woman, and is just using it as a political ploy.

At least, those are my thoughts on it.