When Being a Woman In Politics Might Actual Be An Asset

Michelle Cottle writes a really fascinating profile of Nancy Pelosi in the New Republic this week. She writes that Pelosi have so been so effective in blocking the Bush administration and strong arming fellow congressional members that she has a developed a reputation of being "a power broker and all-around political badass." She is now "being touted as one of the most powerful speakers in modern history."

Part of Pelosi's success may be the fact that she's a woman. She's able to snow some people who underestimate her strength. She can give a grandmotherly lecture when necessary. And charm and flirt other times.

Of course, being a woman in a testosterone-heavy institution has its drawbacks: As Dick Armey memorably told the San Francisco Chronicle in 2002, "One of the reasons Nancy's abilities are not appreciated is that she is a beautiful woman." But possessing the proverbial "woman's touch" is also part of Pelosi's political arsenal, helping her twist the arms of some of Congress's grumpiest old bulls without putting them on the defensive. (A certain Ways and Means Committee chairman is said to be highly susceptible to her charms.) Some colleagues have described Pelosi's tough-love leadership style as "maternal." Others think it flows more from her upbringing. "She just knows how to schmooze these guys," says the speaker's communication director Brendan Daly, who posits that having "five older brothers helps." Barney Frank offers a more pointed analysis: "Nancy is a very smart woman who used to be a very smart girl at a time when smart girls were told that if they were too smart they would scare away the boys." Now, he adds, no matter how tough Pelosi has to be, in private she has "a manner" that helps soothe ruffled feathers. One leadership aide recalls a meeting in which a disgruntled committee chairman threatened to oppose a bill; Pelosi rose slowly from her seat and delivered a low-key but sternly disappointed lecture on the need for chairmen to set a unifying example. (The chastened member wound up supporting the bill.) Emily's List president Ellen Malcolm has dubbed Pelosi's expression in such situations "The Grandmother Look."

This look--in fact, the whole maternal role--is key to Pelosi's political identity. Pelosi may be tough, even feminist, but not in the in-your-face '70s way that Hillary Clinton is often associated with. She has never downplayed her femininity and is known for her Armani suits, Tahitian pearls, and oh-so-girly chocolate habit.

The pronounced femininity works because it is naturally who she is, but it is also savvy politics: Such self-marketing undermines GOP efforts to paint Pelosi as a left-wing extremist out of touch with mainstream values. The speaker makes frequent reference to her years as a stay-at-home mom, while staffers and colleagues are quick to attribute leadership tricks and personal ticks to her time in the domestic trenches. Following Pelosi's swearing in as speaker, the media was awash in photos of her, gavel in hand, surrounded by her grandkids as well as the children of other members. She looked deceptively like your garden-variety grandma--albeit vastly better coiffed.

I found this article very reassuring and depressing at the same time. While Hillary's candidacy may be going down the toilet along with any hope of a woman president in the near future, Pelosi shows that woman can make it in DC. However, in order to make it work, women have to fit into very scripted roles. They have play the mother or the grandmother. They have to charm and flirt. They have to fly under the radar.

Comments

[Valerie]

I work for large midwestern university whose most recent past president was female. During her term, two family-friend policies were finally passed and a town-and-gown issue was resolved in a way that favored dignity and integrity but did not please football fans and alumni. I truly believe that she was able to see the need to make these moves and to pull them off because she was female. She burned a lot of political capital (especially on the town-and-gown thing), but she got things done.

Yes, having to play a scripted role is not so good. But I can't help but think, we might be better off overall if maternal thinking were more prominent.

[praisegod barebones]

This is going to sound trollish and may be it is. But does anyone other than TNR think that Pelosi is

" one of the most powerful speakers in modern history."

I'm not an American , and I get most of my American political news from the lefty blogosphere, - clearly not an unvarnished source -, where the general view seems to be that she's been culpably weak, not just
over impeachment, but also over holding the democratic caucus together over standing up to Bush over a range of issues.

The beginning of the article reminds me uncomfortably of the 'catfight' narrative that emerged when she wanted Jane Harman to step down from her committee chair.

[Amy P]

"one of the most powerful speakers in modern history"

That does sound way, way over the top.