# What Contributed to Current Female Prominence in GOP **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [August 21, 2011, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-contributed-to-current-female-prominence-in-gop/593499 "2011-08-21T02:37:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![brittekland](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/aeb1de/32.png) [@brittekland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brittekland)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2011, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-contributed-to-current-female-prominence-in-gop/593499/1 "2011-08-21T02:37:03Z")
What contributed the most to the current Female Prominence in GOP? ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2011, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-contributed-to-current-female-prominence-in-gop/593499/2 "2011-08-21T03:51:43Z")
You can look at this two ways. One, you can talk about the success that Hillary Clinton had in battering down peoples’ perceptions of women campaigning for President. Two, you can ask whether a low-level Congresswoman and a former Governor, neither of whom have any more chance of getting the nomination than you or I, count as prominent or merely media-friendly. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2011, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-contributed-to-current-female-prominence-in-gop/593499/3 "2011-08-21T05:24:39Z")
Or you can figure two isn’t exactly a major trend. ---
**Author:** ![boytyperanma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@boytyperanma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boytyperanma)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2011, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-contributed-to-current-female-prominence-in-gop/593499/4 "2011-08-21T06:52:28Z")
> [@brittekland](#): > > What contributed the most to the current Female Prominence in GOP? You might want to explain this further. Women aren’t exactly very prominent in the GOP. You currently have 2 very high profile women(Michelle Bachmann and Sarah Palin) catching a lot of press attention only one of which holds an elected position. The aren’t prominent in the GOP. If the GOP had any particular devotion to making women prominent themselves they’d probably probably have a better ration then 10-1(male to female)at the federal level. When it comes to positions of importance they have an even worse ratio. So I think a better question might be why does our news media raise female GOP members to prominence? My guess is it’s like filming an endangered species, they are a rarity many people are interested in seeing because it’s so out of the ordinary. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2011, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-contributed-to-current-female-prominence-in-gop/593499/5 "2011-08-21T11:49:19Z")
> [@boytyperanma](#): > > So I think a better question might be why does our news media raise female GOP members to prominence? My guess is it’s like filming an endangered species, they are a rarity many people are interested in seeing because it’s so out of the ordinary. I’m reminded of a comment I read from a black Republican several election cycles ago; that he found it outright creepy how at the Republican convention all the cameras would constantly follow him. ---
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2011, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-contributed-to-current-female-prominence-in-gop/593499/6 "2011-08-21T15:26:28Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > I’m reminded of a comment I read from a black Republican several election cycles ago; that he found it outright creepy how at the Republican convention all the cameras would constantly follow him. Maybe they thought he was going to steal something. Seriously, you see that at other televised GOP events as well. Tea Party rallies too. “I told you we’re not racist. See that black guy the camera man is poi… Hey! Where’s that ni…black guy? Find him. Get him back on camera!” ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2011, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-contributed-to-current-female-prominence-in-gop/593499/7 "2011-08-21T16:54:33Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > I’m reminded of a comment I read from a black Republican several election cycles ago; that he found it outright creepy how at the Republican convention all the cameras would constantly follow him. It’s like the old joke: How do you find out how many black people there are in the Republican party? You watch the convention footage and count them. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2011, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-contributed-to-current-female-prominence-in-gop/593499/8 "2011-08-21T18:05:19Z")
Wake me up when the Republicans have a reasonable, ordinary looking female candidate. Attractive female talking heads is a Fox ploy, but I can tell you it worked in school, too. ---
**Author:** ![Fuzzy\_Dunlop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/848f3c/32.png) [@Fuzzy\_Dunlop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuzzy_Dunlop)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2011, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-contributed-to-current-female-prominence-in-gop/593499/9 "2011-08-21T18:25:15Z")
> [@ShibbOleth](#): > > Wake me up when the Republicans have a reasonable, ordinary looking female candidate. > > Attractive female talking heads is a Fox ploy, but I can tell you it worked in school, too. Meg Whitman and Sharron Angle were extremely unattractive and very prominent GOP candidates in 2010. Carly Fiorina was also prominent and pretty average looking for her age. Whitman and Fiorina were both pretty reasonably by modern Republican standards. Of course, they all lost to Democrats. Not sure what that means. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2011, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-contributed-to-current-female-prominence-in-gop/593499/10 "2011-08-21T20:23:55Z")
> [@Fuzzy\_Dunlop](#): > > Meg Whitman and Sharron Angle were extremely unattractive and very prominent GOP candidates in 2010. Carly Fiorina was also prominent and pretty average looking for her age. Whitman and Fiorina were both pretty reasonably by modern Republican standards. Of course, they all lost to Democrats. Not sure what that means. I just meant at the national stage. I’d consider Angle more of a fringe Tea Party lunatic, but perhaps I’m giving them too much credit. Whitman was just someone with a lot of money to spend on herself. Saw both of them (outside of California) more as sound bites than with deep interviews, etc. The three Republican women candidates I’ve heard the most about are Sarah Palin, Michele Bachmann and Christine O’Donnell. All are reasonably attractive. BTW, Fiorina’s biggest accomplishment at HP was the acquisition of Compaq, which caused a proxy fight with one of the founder’s sons. Last week there was a rumor that HP will divest itself of it’s PC division. She’s clearly a visionary. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-contributed-to-current-female-prominence-in-gop/593499/11 "2011-08-22T01:56:44Z")
There are many, many female Republican congress people, governors and state legislators, some of whom far predate Hillary Clinton’s run for office. It’s as much a myth that Republicans are sexist as it is that they are racist. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-contributed-to-current-female-prominence-in-gop/593499/12 "2011-08-22T02:06:20Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > There are many, many female Republican congress people, governors and state legislators, some of whom far predate Hillary Clinton’s run for office. Yes, and so what? The fact is that the current prominence of females in the presidential race is due to Hillary Clinton’s being the first female candidate to have a serious chance at winning the nomination. That took down what had been a stigma against women as not having a chance and not being serious at the highest level. It’s straight line traceable back to 2008. ---
**Author:** ![CJJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecc23a/32.png) [@CJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CJJ)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-contributed-to-current-female-prominence-in-gop/593499/13 "2011-08-22T02:09:35Z")
> [@ShibbOleth](#): > > Attractive female talking heads is a Fox ploy, but I can tell you it worked in school, too. For Fox, “diversity” means occasionally having a brunette read the news. ---
**Author:** ![Implicit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Implicit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Implicit)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-contributed-to-current-female-prominence-in-gop/593499/14 "2011-08-22T02:18:18Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > There are many, many female Republican congress people, governors and state legislators, some of whom far predate Hillary Clinton’s run for office. It’s as much a myth that Republicans are sexist as it is that they are racist. There are more than twice as many female Democrats in the House of Representatives and the Senate. ---
**Author:** ![boytyperanma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@boytyperanma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boytyperanma)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-contributed-to-current-female-prominence-in-gop/593499/15 "2011-08-22T02:56:14Z")
> [@Implicit](#): > > There are more than twice as many female Democrats in the House of Representatives and the Senate. Which is to say the Democrats are less sexist?.. The number of elected females in the Democratic party tends to be a 5-1 ratio male to female. Compared to the Republicans they are only half as sexist! As a whole if you compare elected female federal officials as a percentage, America ranks very poorly. We rank below 89 other countries including countries like China, Afghanistan and The United Arab Emirates. As a whole our voters are pretty sexist. But hey we’re better then Saudi Arabia, Oman and Quatar! Of course that could change if women in those countries are allowed to run for office. We can sit back and claim the Republicans are more sexist then the Democrats rather then look at the country as a whole, but maybe one should watch where they are throwing stones. USA USA we’re number on… er 90 we’re number 90! ---
**Author:** ![Implicit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Implicit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Implicit)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-contributed-to-current-female-prominence-in-gop/593499/16 "2011-08-22T03:13:23Z")
> [@boytyperanma](#): > > Which is to say the Democrats are less sexist?.. The number of elected females in the Democratic party tends to be a 5-1 ratio male to female. Compared to the Republicans they are only half as sexist! > > As a whole if you compare elected female federal officials as a percentage, America ranks very poorly. We rank below 89 other countries including countries like China, Afghanistan and The United Arab Emirates. > > As a whole our voters are pretty sexist. > > But hey we’re better then Saudi Arabia, Oman and Quatar! Of course that could change if women in those countries are allowed to run for office. > > We can sit back and claim the Republicans are more sexist then the Democrats rather then look at the country as a whole, but maybe one should watch where they are throwing stones. > > USA USA we’re number on… er 90 we’re number 90! My response was to poster’s partisan claim of “many, many female Republican congress people”, I felt it worth noting that in fact that the Democrats have considerably more female representatives. I said nothing at all about the myth bullshit in the post. I guess I should have cut that part out of the quote, but I don’t usually edit people’s quotes to remove one sentence. ---
**Author:** ![Implicit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Implicit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Implicit)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-contributed-to-current-female-prominence-in-gop/593499/17 "2011-08-22T03:23:02Z")
Grrr, missed edit window. To clarify, I was curious how many “many, many” was, so I looked it up and discovered that there weren’t a lot and that most female representatives in federal politics were Democrats, which I was not aware of since I am not an American. I posted the information since I had it. Perhaps in future I should keep my discoveries to myself. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-contributed-to-current-female-prominence-in-gop/593499/18 "2011-08-22T03:59:17Z")
> [@Implicit](#): > > My response was to poster’s partisan claim of “many, many female Republican congress people”… _Partisan_? It’s simply a fact. It’s also a fact that when compared with the two female Republicans who were previously drawing all the electrons in this thread, the number of women who have served and who do serve in Republican politics is indeed “many”. The fact that you come up with more on the other side, or in other countries, means nothing in that regard. The Republicans don’t have as many women serving for the same reason they don’t have as many blacks serving - the left has convinced them that Republicans are the enemy. The truth is that any woman and any black who embraces conservative values are as welcome in both the party and elective office (and on the Supreme Court, as the head of the party, or as National Security Advisor/Secretary of State) as anyone else. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-contributed-to-current-female-prominence-in-gop/593499/19 "2011-08-22T04:48:51Z")
Thanks, Starving Artist! I didn’t realize there were so few Republican women and minorities because liberals have poisoned their minds. Ignorance fought. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-contributed-to-current-female-prominence-in-gop/593499/20 "2011-08-22T04:57:01Z")
No, it’s the women and blacks who _aren’t_ Republicans whose minds have been poisoned. But I know what you mean, and thanks. It’s always gratifying when someone sees the light. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-contributed-to-current-female-prominence-in-gop/593499.md?page=2)