Home > Opinion > Bonnie Erbe > Penny Pritzker’s Out of the Running for Commerce Secretary, Napolitano Looks Good for Homeland Security

Penny Pritzker’s Out of the Running for Commerce Secretary, Napolitano Looks Good for Homeland Security

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Thanks for a spirited argument. We may not agree, but I value your input.

Holly of AZ 10:29PM November 24, 2008

The President has a much larger and different role than a Secretary of State. Further my argument is specific to this time and given the current issues facing the Secretary of State. I did not say that we should keep women out of international politics. In fact, my argument is that we should have more women involved in truly setting policy. I am only arguing that selecting a woman to be the primary face dealing with the Arab leaders to get us through the fiasco in Iraq is not culturally sensitive, diminishes our effectiveness in the process, and gives the impression of an arrogant insistence on pushing our values on a part of the world that has a much different culture. We need to change our image of extreme arrogance on the world stage; paying attention to details in specific instances would help a lot.
By the way, I agree wholeheartedly with your comments about Hillary Clinton following the blog entitled "Hillary Clinton to State or Senate Leadership." I am not a fan of Senator Clinton, and I do believe that she is not owed anything. Yet I lived through her previous attempts at health care reform (I work in the field) and have great trepidation about her role in further health care reform as well. Chelsea should get some experience before she goes for the Senate; she'll be better in the long run--and it will be much better for the country.

MontanaMountain Woman of MT 8:04AM November 23, 2008

So, following your logic, we should not have a woman as president, so as to be sensitive to the beliefs of others. Please. I'm truly sorry that this difference in opinion exsists in regards to the role that women play in different places, but we can't simply keep women out of roles they are qualified and needed in to asuage certain people. Giving a pair of boots with the map of China on it to a Chinese leader is indeed stupid. Respecting their dislike of feet is hardly the same as keeping an entire sex out of international politics.
In keeping with tolerance, and in order to further diplomacy,we accept how a number of these cultures treat the female population.And I'm not talking about the arrogance we as a culture expressed when there was an uproar over burka's. Should we cater to the extreme and exclude women from our end? No.

Holly of AZ 1:34PM November 22, 2008

Given that arrogance is expressed in many ways, we must be aware of the seemingly small things, especially when major world events turn on the negotiations. When negotiating with those in another culture, it is arrogance to deliberately ignore the others cultural values. An example was when the elder George Bush presented the Chinese leader with a pair of cowboy boots that had a map of China on them--but the Chinese consider the feet to be dirty, so it was an insult. He was castigated for what was really a mistake. Yet, because we Americans want to spread our value of gender equality around the world, we insist that paternalistic societies negotiate with female representatives. Because the other person does not share our value system, we diminish our effectiveness. Further, we reveal ourselves to be more interested in pushing our value onto them, then we are putting ourselves as more important than the person we are negotiating with. That is arrogance--the whole point in changing administrations was to express our sensitivity to the multicultural world--so we start out by ignoring a cultural value of the most critical negotiating partners we have.
We can better show the world that we consider women to be equals by appointing a woman to the Sec Def or Sec Treasury--other very critical positions which are going to demand level-headed, innovative thinking. It would also be ground-breaking. But one down, and not likely to get the second. That would be real gender equality.

MontanaMountainWoman of MT 9:28PM November 21, 2008

I can't follow your bi-polar reasoning about gender inequality in our lives. We shouldn't stick to our ideals upon crossing the border? It is ignorant to suggest that we did not make headway on the global stage in part because Condi is black and female. It was because she represented and negotiated really poor policy and an arrogant administration.
BTW, Pritzker recused herself. Perhaps she is not willing to have her personal life and finances torn apart. You can't lay this at Obama's feet. The Clinton's have been layed bare for year's, and have proven that they will endure anything to be involved in politics.

holly of AZ 1:38PM November 21, 2008

Well, Bonnie, you will need to remove one bean from pile A and place it back in the big pile. But if there are any further announcements of women in the cabinet, you can place that bean back in pile A.

Tom A of VT 3:54AM November 21, 2008

A poll from this organization shows what? Why even take it? The results are predicatable.

Kat of PA 11:55PM November 20, 2008

Isn't rather ironic that women have been excluded from the party they support, but the "troglidyte" Republican presidents have placed more women and minorities on their cabinets.
We really have to have this discussion right....?
A cultural note: I do find it interesting that nobody stateside complained when Madeline Albright showed up in the middle east wearing her above the knee skirt-business suit ensemble. (Although the Arabs did mightily...) Contrast that with Maggie Thatcher "Chadar'ing" up when she made the rounds.

Nate of NV 9:30PM November 20, 2008

From three to two--I agree with Bonnie that this is disgusting! Women have overwhelmingly supported the Democratic Party for decades and in this day and age, considering only a few women for Cabinet seats is a slap in the face. There should be a short list for every single seat that includes at least two women--yes, there are plenty of well-qualified women out there. One need only look at the blatant sexism shown by the Democratic Party and the media in the recent election to know that sexism is still alive.For example, Daschle for HHS--certainly there is a better choice than a has-been Senator who runs a lobbying agency for several medically involved companies (though officially he's not registered as a lobbyist, so...) PLEASE! There is a woman CEO of Aetna who at least has come up with some new ideas for insurance plans to make them more affordable.
My only reservation with a woman is for Secretary of State--we are in need of dealing with some of the most paternalistic countries in the world--and we are trying to stuff down their throats a woman to negotiate with and also claim that we are sensitive to other countries values and cultures. Bull pucky. This is one reason that Bush has NO credibility in the world of international relations--he forced them to deal with an African-American woman--two slaps in their cultural face. I AM NOT saying that we should return to the dark ages of racism or stay our movement towards gender blindness, but we must be realistic on a world stage. A French woman once criticized President Bush for using a college team hand signal in the US when the college band came by him in a parade--that is cultural arrogance--my values must be your values. We are demanding that the Arab world accept our values when we want them to work with us--how much more is this cultural arrogance! Let's grow up and be mature about this.

MontanaMountainWoman of MT 8:16PM November 20, 2008