Nichola Gutgold spoke to Hofstra students about female politicians’ progress on their journey to the presidency. // Megan Naftali/The Hofstra Chronicle.
A communication arts and sciences professor at Penn State Lehigh Valley spoke about female politicians’ progress on their journey to the presidency, on Tuesday, Oct. 12, at the Cultural Center Theater.
Nichola Gutgold, who has a doctorate in speech communication, began her lecture “Getting Closer to Electing Madam President” by asking attendees to think critically about women who have run for president.
“As we learn about women who have run for the United States presidency, I’d like you to keep in mind who she is, where she comes from, what motivates her to be a political candidate and what makes her want to run for the highest office in the country,” Gutgold said.
Margaret Chase Smith, the first woman elected to both the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate, and Shirley Chisholm, the first Black congresswoman, were among the six women Gutgold discussed.
Both Smith and Chisholm inspired the next generation of female politicians at a time when women’s views were not valued enough, according to Gutgold.
Using the term “media frames,” Gutgold examined former female presidential candidates’ public speaking techniques and revealed how women were often represented in the media less favorably than men.
Elizabeth Dole was used as an example of such bias during Gutgold’s presentation.At the 1996 Republican National Convention, Dole spoke highly of her husband, who was running for president at the time. During the convention, Dole used a “Southern style of inclusive storytelling,” which the audience enjoyed, but when Dole used a similar approach during her own 1999 presidential bid, it did not work.
Bill Clinton, “another southern politician,” addressed Americans using a storytelling style like Dole’s during his presidential campaign and was a lot more successful than her, according to Gutgold.
Dole’s warmth was not seen by most American voters as the behavior of the stereotypical male president, hence her lack of success, Gutgold asserted.
To avoid believing false narratives about women, Gutgold said people should “make sure that they’re watching objective media sources and question when they feel like something might be deceptive.”
2008 was a historical year for women in politics like Hillary Clinton because this year marked the first time in presidential history that a female candidate was not framed by the media as “symbolic,” and was taken seriously, Gutgold said.
Highlighting women like Nancy Pelosi, Gutgold said there are many women who “from their resumes, would be presidential material.” Yet even when they shared similar qualifications with their male counterparts, they were not elected as president.
Gutgold concluded her talk with the idea that the vice presidency could be the key to a woman becoming president.
Hofstra students and professors said they found the lecture informative and meaningful.
“[Gutgold gave] such a timely talk [and] we are all better off from seeing women enter the political race and run competitive campaigns,” said Dr. Meena Bose, director of Hofstra’s Kalikow Center for the Study of the American Presidency.
After the talk, Mckenna Osborne, a freshman psychology major, said she got a better understanding of America’s progressive nature as it moved from a historically patriarchal society to a more modern one.
“I didn’t know in the 1960s there were women running for office,” Osborne said. “I’ve never heard about that before in any class, so I thought that was really interesting to hear.”
Hannah White, a freshman drama major, shared a similar sentiment.
“[Women in politics are] constantly having to prove themselves and their own livelihoods and their own success,” White said. “It’s up to men to fix that.”