Toxic Politics Petticoat Obsession US Election Knickers A-Twist in Race To The Polls A Woman’s Place When America Sneezes
Dr Kris Rampersad 
Toxic Politics Petticoat Obsession US Election Kickers in a Twist
The final vote-count in the US Elections will indicate to what degree the tottering superpower’s ability to confront and dent the gender bias and stereotyping embedded in its political culture.
It finds potent expression in the petticoat obsession that has candidates’ and voters’ knickers all a-twist, skewed by unconscious bias in the election camps’ campaigns, cable advertising, polling, media, outreach and reporting all of which, as they unfold, suggest the long day’s journey into night ahead to dent and confront deep-seated gender stereotyping in leadership considerations that are embedded in the global psyche.
Global Inequality Gap
The alarming global inequality-gap paints a dismal picture of aspirations for gender parity: that based on current trends, it will be more than a century before the world sees equality and equity as desired, including in highest positions of power. This is despite lip service on global commitments to women’s equal participation in leadership and decision-making dominating the international agenda concertedly since the now 30-year-old 1995 Beijing Declaration. The Beijing Declaration comes from more than a century of activism and agitation, in which the US has played a central role.
Yet, it is something of a paradox, that the USA, with its women’s lib movement, the sexual and metro revolutions, and a host of other movements, has not been able to impact the toxic masculinity of patriarchal politics and demonstrate that commitment by electing a woman to its highest office of governance to date. And the analyses of why and how this is so is all-together too superficial, in surface arguments that continue to be regurgitated adnauseum now in the big data generated polling and similarly conditioned Chat GPT gurus.
Institutionalised Toxic Political Culture
The current USA elections provide up-close insights into how deeply entrenched is toxic political culture that institutionalises and normalises disrespect for women which ultimately contributes to the darkest dimensions of gender inequality that manifest in high levels of endemic gender-based violence, including verbal, mental and attitudinal abuse that contributes to the epidemic where one in every three women are victims of abuse.
That statistic, I continuously emphasize, is one of the least studied yet most pernicious roadblock to the goal for gender equality. It is likely to considerably increase if we add the impact of entrenched institutionalised abuse owing to how the toxic political culture glosses over and normalises consciously and unconsciously, the conditions that create a hostile and unfriendly climate for women that are relayed into unbalanced decision-making, programmes, actions and numbing habitual practice.
Funny? Or Distressing?
The ensuing US election with a woman as a contending candidate for the US Presidency in Kamala Harris, provides a minefield of evidence of deeply embedded unconscious gender bias, pouring stereotyping out of the pores of not just candidates in the elections, but embedded inside the advertising campaigns, the media reporting and campaign message slants in themselves.
Invisible to Preprogrammed Radars
If the breezes that whirr for change in the currents of USA governance does not seem to be translating into shifts in the grounded consciousness of voters, one doesn’t have to look much further than the unconscious messages emerging from the campaign camps, even from professed advocates of gender equality and women’s leadership!
At the same time, it encourages one to take with extra upsized doses of salt the emerging figures from pollsters, who also need to be conditioned to look for specific engendered factors that function at levels not tabbed in statistics gathering and analyses, including AI Big Data and digital analyses not programmed to capture such factors that function under the glare of their preprogrammed radars.
This means that election outcomes may be a massive surprise and shock to many quarters, yet, my more than three decades in gender and cultural analyses, advocacy and prepping leadership to dent the gender divides intuits!
Knickers in a Twist
Funny or Distressing, depending on what side of the gender or political divide you sit in the USA’s Election campaign, it is ‘bigly’ enriching and insightful on how the mere presence of a woman candidate for the Presidency in Kamala Harris, leaves so many britches aka knickers all in a twist.
And that is all wrapped up in the downright open and undisguised misogynistic salvos indicative of nauseous obsession with women’s sexuality, intelligence and competencies being generously served out the US election campaign.
Toxic Politics Stereotypes & Biases
Even more pernicious is the emerging evidence from the campaign of how these toxic stereotypes and biases have been internalized by next-generation leaders and politicians including the more youthful potential successors get anointed into the perpetuated toxicity.
What is surfacing from this 21st century US Election Campaign is the deep-rooted and internalized toxic political culture, and not just from the candidates under scrutiny. The media through its moderators and reporting and other spokespersons charged with representing, shaping and guiding public opinion as well as the kind of polling exhibit and emit defective deep-seated stereotyping and conscious and unconscious bias about gender roles and the place of women in leadership.
It leaves one a-wondering – Has the USA done any self-introspecting in the near-decade since a similar attempt by Hilary Clinton to bid for the position once held by her husband Bill or is it just parroting and regurgitating grounds already covered, now with added dimensions of prejudices against women and people of colour, which it also should have processed with the successful Barack Obama two-terms bid? These are loaded and among the many variegated nuances of a world in which the double standards, gender divide and resistance to natural transformation processes cast the do or die dice on a country’s, even one on the tail end of its run as a world power! (OMG! LOL!)
Voter Education
These are important dimensions of media, politicians’ and voter-education across sectors. Such stereotyping and molding impact policy, programmes and actions that pit the sum-total of women’s existence by limiting and inhibiting evolution for a development sphere where essentially all issues are women’s issues!
I deep dive into how these stereotypes are represented in the deeper AuthenThink Intel AI AnalyEthics study, drawing from my own experiences in reshaping the campaign for gender equality mindsets, but here underscore elements in the resurfacing of gender equality in leadership emerging from the election battle, with a woman as a leading contender.
Beyond petticoat obsession
Much has been made of the Kamala Harris candidacy as a woman in this election race. While not an inconsequential factor, to me the gender equality factor is but a subset of the greater call in relation to the thrust for valuing diversity, embracing new development thrusts that are beyond the petticoat obsession that persists in the political playpen.
Value for women’s leadership is an indication of a country’s responsiveness to other global dynamics that are reshaping the world order in which the USA is no longer a dominant but a potentially equal development partner, as I presented in .
While pivotal, gender equality is part of a broader imperative to embrace diversity as a core social and cultural value. Recognizing the importance of women’s leadership serves as a litmus test for a country and its people’s adaptability and responsiveness to global dynamics that are actively reshaping the established world order.
Women’s Transformative Leadership
Women’s leadership, in particular, is a crucial and vital indicator of a country’s capacity to engage with such transformative changes. Openness to women’s leadership suggests a readiness to rethink and recalibrate the frameworks of power, governance, and economic strategy to match dynamic social reconfigurations that are already in process and align actions to match the aspirations of a nation.
When a country actively promotes gender equality and empowers women in leadership, it signals openness to broader shifts in leadership and other norms, suggesting an adaptive stance toward diversity of thought, experience, and approach. This flexibility becomes a competitive advantage in a global landscape that increasingly values collaboration, agility, and inclusivity and therein allots women an equal place in the Houses of Governance.
International Resonance
In the arena of international development and global diplomacy, countries that value women’s leadership seem to be evolving to be more receptive to diverse forms of partnerships and cooperation. Moving away from traditional hierarchies of power to networks of equitable participation is a giant step forward for humankind.
The global landscape still reveals contrasting and sometimes contradinating narrative that challenges this enduring hesitation in America to embrace female leadership at its highest echelon. While the United States has yet to elect a woman to the presidency, several developing and emerging economies have been notably progressive, demonstrating a readiness to elevate women to the highest levels of government.
Mama Mia! From Kamla to Kamala
In the Caribbean, for example, several nations have appointed women to influential roles including leading governments. The ones we have witnessed over the last two decades were all part of the enhanced agitation of our national and regional ‘Put A Woman campaign’ to align development with the UN 50/50 gender equality agenda. The song and some of the components of that campaign is represented in the video. It included aggressive reach into not just the campaign elements itself, but laying the groundwork in local government processes, media education, preparation of the candidates and their support networks.
The inimitable Prime Minister of Barbados, Mama Mia Amor Mottley emerged from this continuous process of regional agitation and engagement for advancement of women in leadership. Spanning careers in journalism and outreach and advocacy, networking with the local to global media, NGO, iNGO, education, governance and private sectors, I consider it an accomplishment to have been involved in helping to define core elements that drove the gender equality campaign to audible and visible success. From seeds planted by Ma, through to the post-election conceptualisation and implementation of the Women Agents of Change initiative that moved the momentum of the Beijing Summit for gender leadership and equality to actionable initiatives that impact the imperatives of the climate of governance of today.
When the Caribbean Sneezes
These processes in our region paved the way for ascension to office by Portia Simpson-Miller of Jamaica who has twice presided over governance of the island. Trinidad and Tobago also elected its first female Prime Minister in 2010, Kamla Persad-Bissessar. At the same time, it also elevated women to the upper echelons of governance offices in the roles of President and Head of State, presiding heads of the Parliaments and Senate, leading roles in other sectors in business and finance, education, law, and other arenas. It also influenced gender empowerment movements in the wider hemisphere of the Caribbean and beyond.
Coordinating the outreach dimensions meant harnessing the gains made in and concertedly networking the fraying elements across sectors – this is not altogether visible in the USA campaign, and I look closely at how this is so represented, as we wait to see how it plays out to shift voting habits.
I am treating with the operations and functions of women leaders across nations, continents and in their respective spheres in greater detail in the broad-reaching AuthenThink Intel AI AnalyEthics study. To support make contact.
Conceptual change, reform of norms
Women in leadership are expected to drive conceptual change for economic reform, social equality, and greater equity across sectors.
Whether these small steps fully resonate a regionally entrenched respect for female leadership that has inspired greater advocacy for gender-sensitive policies, budgetary allocations and macro level gender-sensitive decision-making have been fully internalized is part of the reflective analyses yet to emerge.
Nevertheless, these precedents illustrate that nations are increasingly aware of the need for diverse leadership to address complex social, economic, and environmental challenges.
The global call for readiness to trust and invest in female leadership challenges America’s lagging stance and invites reflection on the underlying societal, cultural, and structural biases couched with a toxic political culture that may be holding back its progress and reducing its viability as a world leader for the emerging challenges confronting the globe.
Measureable Impacts
There are measurable impacts of female leadership on poverty reduction, social welfare improvements, expanded healthcare, gender-responsive budgeting, and legislative protections against discrimination that reinforce inclusivity, policy effectiveness, and social cohesion.
Beyond the narrow campaign issues that the media and the US election campaign itself are spotlighting with a primary focus on abortion rights as a campaign issue to taget women and youth voters, the broader reach on the need for gender equality, linger in the shadows. All issues are women’s issues!
These include focus on the value and impact of female leadership on governance, economic transformation and diversification, social cohesion and stability, health and education, gender-equal governance is not merely aspirational but essential for addressing the complex social, economic, and environmental crises of today’s world.
It highlights a readiness among nations to invest in diverse perspectives and empathetic leadership—a model that batters the hesitant approach seen in the United States.
Evolving Mindsets
Various parts of the world are evolving mindsets that have seen women take their equal place in governance and leadership.
As I presented in the introduction to Through the Political Glass Ceiling, Diversity and the Clash of Political Cultures – the revolution that occurs under the radar of the public glare, not unlike what happens in the domestic, rural, cultural spheres is often underestimated by the glare and focus placed on the macro spheres.
The strengths of these forces and factors, including and set against deeply entrenched culturation that devalues the contributions of women, the political culture itself – with all its toxicity – that glosses over major blunders of one candidate while holding up the specks to spotlight the other, or whether there is an effervescent and sweeping will of the people of the USA for engendered change or transformation seem to be understudied and underreported which makes this a difficult election to predict.
We who have been covering and observing numerous elections appreciate the many factors that contribute to polling or any upset or landslide at the polls. The decision may come down to a nail-biting finish. And that makes every vote count!
AuthenThink Readiness Assessment Insights
America is still to demonstrate that it has evolved its mindset to trust women in leadership and governance in its premier role as President.
The question that arise is not just if the USA is ready for a female President. It is whether the USA is really taking the deep and painful introspective look at its self-exclusion from this global momentum and examine how gender-equal representation in its highest office could bring new dynamism and resilience to not just its own governance, but also in other sectors.
It may be also indicative of how the USA could also restore and retrieve respect from international arenas.
In these nail-biting final moments to polling day, America may wish to more deeply reflect on how diversifying its decision-making and representation could enrich its leadership and global influence in a world in flux.
In these changing dynamics, is the USA, once a leader in agenda-setting political, economic, and cultural trends, evolving into a role as a mere participant in a world trending towards greater equality and equity?
How much of a shift is there on the ground in the climate for change and growing recognition of the need for women to hold equal spotlight at the leadership and decision making table?
How deep that shift is, would be proven at next week’s polls in the United States of America!
What is A Woman? Why Put A Woman
What exactly were these breezes of change, in which direction are they blowing and what are the implications for the USA, for the Globe?
From three decades of interrogation and analyses of the roles of gender, culture, rural and other intangible and invisible factors in evolution of social and political dynamics, through AuthenTHink Intel AI AnalyEthics, Dr Kris Rampersad interrogtes the global development gaps, drawing attention to these observances on trends in the US General elections, uncaptured by the existing political pundits and pollsters.
Stay tuned. To support ongoing research and analyse financially and otherwise please make contact.
About Dr Kris Rampersad
Dr Kris Rampersad has worked throughout the Americas and broader international community integrating effective gender, culture and media outreach initiatives into development policies, strategies, plans and programmes. She conceptualised and helped initiate the Women Agents of Change initiative for the Commonwealth Caribbean, now integrated into global systems.
She advanced the regional Put A Woman Campaign educating and empowering Women in Leadership in media outreach and advocacy from national through international borders to meet the UN 50/50 campaign for gender equality which has seen direct ascension to women in leadership in Jamaica, Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago. A multimedia innovator, author and journalist, she has been mapping the intersections of gender, media, culture and development and is author of Through the Political Glass Ceiling.
Battle-scarred she continues to punch at persistent discrimination from her small-island perch where she is spearheading AuthenThink Intel AnalyEthics where Traditions net Technologies; Education embraces Entertainment in CEIBA-EDUtainment and Demokrissy provokes the inert from Ideas to Action.
A multi-sector facilitator of intercultural communications, socio-cultural inclusion and participatory governance, her international service includes President of the UNESCO Education Commission, Vice President of UNESCO Programme and External Relations Commission, Independent Member and Vice President of Consultative Body of the International InterGovernmental Committee for Intangible Cultural Heritage, Vice President of the Commonwealth Journalists’ Association and Specialist New Media Consultant/Adviser to the Commonwealth Foundation, CIVICUS World Assembly, Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute and National Institute of Higher Education, Research Science and Technology.
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