Women's Support for Hillary Clinton is Not Universal

She stood on stage in a striking turquoise jacket.

Sfx: cheers

She had just spent the past 29 minutes discussing healthcare, the environment, the war in Iraq.

She had urged the crowd to chant in unison.

(maybe have chanting light underneath)

Then on this bright Sunday afternoon, in the final minute she hit the crowd with the clincher.

She asked them to consider the history at hand.

T.67
29:56 and finally....when someone says, and I hear that occassionaly someone says this, that America can’t elect a woman president....I say come out on the campaign trail with me.

T.67
30:46...and meet the women in their 90’s and come to my events even on a hot day like this, and they are smart enough to wear a hat, and they will come up to me, and I’ll bend over to say thank them, and they will tell me, ‘I was born before women could vote and I want to live long enough to see a woman in the White House.’

Clinton understands how important her gender is in the 2008 Democratic primary in New Hampshire.

Women are expected to make up about 60% of the people who will vote in that contest.

So when she speaks about her historic bid she does so using potent images- like women being denied their simple rights.

But at the same time, she downplays its significance, not even talking about gender until the final minute of her stump speech.

It’s a strategy that sends the complicated message: Hillary Clinton is a capable leader, who, oh by the way, happens to be a woman.

And many female voters who support Clinton- like 68 year old Harriet Resnikov of Concord- find it difficult to explain how much it even matters that Clinton is a woman.

1:18 ...It’s that I think she has a strength, a presence, confidence. And I admire that....well I guess, she is a woman exuding those characteristics but it’s not b/c she’s a woman I would vote for her.

Clinton’s success is, in part, forcing women to think about whether there is an inherent difference between male and female leaders.

87 year old Mary Louise Hancock of Concord, a long-time Clinton supporter, says she certainly sees a distinction.

T.30
12:35 ...I think there is a great difference in how women approach subjects, how they seek solutions, how they look at all the aspects of a problem. I think they are more caring, more concerned. And I think there is a vast difference in how a woman approaches a subject and how a man does.

Terri de Langis of Exeter isn’t sure how different male and female leaders are from each other.

de Langis is the outgoing head of the New Hampshire Commission on the Status of Women.

The 43 year old, does believe that Clinton’s gender has influenced the battles she’s chosen to fight.

T.9
7:26 ...I think she has had a long term commitment to education, early education, childcare...those issues that have been defined for us for the past 20 years as what do you need to do for so women can be completely ingratiated into society and be productive citizens. She’s taken that plan and really worked it. that’s through healthcare, that’s through education, that’s trhoguh domestic violence and sexual violence long term.

Author Amy Richards says simply being a woman gives Clinton experiences that no man can have, no matter how committed he is to gender equality.

Amy Richards
2:31...being a mother, being a wife, being someone who works at Legal Aid, you bring with that, so much cumulative experiences....

Richards co-wrote ‘Manifesta Young Women, Feminism and the Future.

Amy Richards
4:58 I think somebody who has lived through that is going to be more likely to fight at the table for certain rights. And not solely for themselves but I think they are able to recognize that their constituents are female and are more likely to deal with these things. In the same way all the war veterans, they get so much credit for caring about both the military and the retired military. And it’s b/c they lived through it and they know what it is like.

CHAUDHRY
27:42 I think definitely the younger feminists are very, very resistant to the idea that women are inherently different than men.

Lakshmi Chaudhry is a contributing writer to the magazine the Nation.

Chaudrhry says a number of women who aren’t backing Clinton bristle at the notion that Hillary Clinton is better just because she’s a woman.

CHAUDHRY
28:02 ...that’s when they would point to all the women George Bush has put in positions of power. And say ‘hah! Explain that!’

According to the most recent UNH poll- conducted in mid-July- Hillary Clinton is the front-runner here because of her 15 point lead among female voters.

However, Andy Smith, who conducted the survey, says her support among women is softer than it may appear.

:20 when you look at Clinton’s support among women she does best among those with lower levels of education and income. And her support erodes significantly as women become more affluent and have higher levels of education. The importance of this is that those women who have higher levels of education and income are more likely to pay attention to the race and to vote.

Smith quickly adds that only a small minority of voters have decided who to back at this point.

But 71 year old Pat Ayers of Hopkinton has made up her mind.

She’s not supporting Clinton.

T.22
2:35 I think it would be wonderful to have a woman for president. There are many, many other countries around the world who have, but I want a woman who can be her own self, and feels comfortable for who she is.

Ayers says she’s disappointed in Clinton for any number of reasons.

She isn’t fond of her foreign policy positions.

And it bothers Ayers that Clinton often talks about her time in the White House and leans on her husband to introduce her at events.

T.22
7:25 I would like to see someone who has come up by themselves without having their father, husband or brother be famous. I would like ot have seen her arrive by herself.

Terri de Langis hasn’t made up her mind who to support.

She says she’s yearning for Clinton to take more risks.

The careful, calculated moves that Clinton has made are a turnoff.

For example, de Langis says, she’s frustrated with how Clinton has talked about abortion.

T.9
13:51 she came up with a great way to frame that issue, safe, rare and legal...nobody can disagree with that. But it is a very calculated statement. But the statement needs to be that everybody has the right to determine what happens to their own body.

A number of female critics who aren’t supporting Clinton say they distrust her agenda.

Nation writer Lakshmi Chaudhry says she has spoken with a number of critics who see Clinton as distancing herself from progressive politics, rebranding herself as a moderate.

CHAUDHRY
1:59 in their mind they have a woman, the first woman who is a serious contender for the White House, whose politics they don’t particularly like. They think that she is she is a political opportunist. A person whose ideals can be quite easily be swayed by the latest public opinion poll.

But regardless of whether women support Hillary Clinton or not, Chaudhry says Clinton’s candidacy has affected women all across the country.

15 years ago, she says, supporting a woman- because she is a woman- would have been a no-brainer.

Chaudhry says is now that position is subject to debate.

CHAUDHRY
39:23 ...In a sense, as long as everyone is outside the clubhouse, being inside the clubhouse seemed like a fine idea. and then once a number of you get into the clubhouse, maybe it doesn’t make such a big difference you start talking about the fact, is membership what we really should be aspiring to.

Dartmouth History professor Annelise Orleck says many women have given up on identity politics.

She says there are too many women in leadership positions that have failed to bring about the political change women on the left wanted.

Despite that mistrust Orleck admits she’s still excited about the possibility of a female president.

Orleck
20:32...you allow yourself to hope that a woman president might bring some difference to that office. Can I say that I believe that? No. Intellectually I don’t believe it. But on some emotional level, I guess I hope it.

Orleck and others say they can’t help but like Clinton because they know what she’s doing now will only make it easier for other women down the line.

The significance of what she is doing, isn’t lost on Clinton as she addressed that crowd in Concord.

T.67
29:56.... See the children little who were brought out to meet me, particularly the girls. Whose mothers and fathers hold them up and whisper to them, ‘see you can be whatever you want to be.’ There are no barriers or boundaries in America.

For NHPR News, I’m DG.