From left to right: panelists Elsey, Longmire, Bose and student Adallis Pantry discuss women in the political scene. 

Women in politics receive more criticism than men and are viewed under a larger magnifying glass. This discrimination has taken shape in many ways, such as people criticizing women’s choice of clothes or the way they laugh, rather than critiquing their policies. 

The Center for Civic Engagement at Hofstra University hosted an event titled “Inspiring Women in Leadership” as part of their Day of Dialogue: Preparing for Election 2024 series. The panelists at the event consisted of Meena Bose, Brenda Elsey and Linda Longmire.

The talk opened with Bose, who serves as the executive dean for Public Policy and Public Service programs at the Peter S. Kalikow School of Government, Public Policy and International Affairs at Hofstra. She said that women in politics face closer scrutiny than their male counterparts, such as false rumors of how they obtained their positions. She brought up an example of an article that focused on Vice President and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris’ relationship with a state official in California. This article led to people insinuating that she received higher governmental positions because of her personal relationship, rather than her credentials, such as being a graduate of Harvard University.

Elsey, a professor of history at Hofstra, discussed the current state of Mexican politics with its newly inaugurated president, Claudia Sheinbaum. She talked about some of the criticisms that female candidates faced while running. 

“[Mexico] is really going through problems of militarization and either candidate would have to deal with that,” Elsey said. “That’s going to be a whole bag of problems for a woman [who may be] rendered as weaker with the military or unable to take care of the military.” 

Bose highlighted the importance of women fighting back against the scrutiny they face from their opponents who choose to focus on trivial aspects of a candidate rather than their qualifications. 

“Former President Trump questioned Kamala Harris’ racial/ethnic background,” Bose said. “He did this in an interview with the National Association of Black Journalists, and when she was asked about it, she said ‘I’m not going there. I’m just not engaging this.’”

She also talks about the backlash from politicians towards Harris’ laugh and claims that criticisms such as these are unreasonable and that it is important to push back against them.

Django Buenz, a sophomore political science major, shared her views on why this phenomenon is taking place.

“I think it’s a deterrence tactic used by reactionaries to get women to stop trying and out of male-dominated spaces and it’s actually having the opposite effect,” Buenz said. “To over-analyze and scrutinize women harder for things [that] their male counterparts do on the regular actually makes the over-analyzer look weird, not the woman.”

Many people don’t believe that criticisms of laughter or wardrobe are enough for them to decide who they will vote for.

Longmire, a professor of political science, spoke about the strengths of women in politics. She says that creative organizing and campaigning is a notable feature of women’s leadership. One main example she used is the Second Liberian Civil War and how women were able to organize a mass action for peace.

“These women reached across religious lines; Christians and Muslims working together, getting to know each other. So it was in that process, itself, that the union became so strong,” Longmire said. “And [they] were able to begin to actually tackle the horrors of what was going on with such creativity and such brilliance.”

Dayanna Rubio-Chacon, a freshman computer science and cybersecurity major, talked about Harris’ chances of winning the election against Trump.

“I thought this panel was a really interesting deep-dive on Kamala Harris and how her behaviors and the media really impacted her campaign,” Rubio-Chacon said. “And also [when] Biden dropped out of the election and how the Democrats scrambled to find a new candidate under the democratic party, Kamala stepped up and really got those polls up and she’s now the favor to win.”

Election Day is Nov. 5.