Hillary Clinton, Former US secretary of State
During a recent visit to Robben Island in South Africa, our driver told a joke about Hillary Clinton.
Several years ago, Hillary (right) was visiting the historic island where Nelson Mandela was held for most of his 27 years in prison. She wanted her special car, which had been flown in from the United States, to be used on Robben Island.
But there was a calamity: The helicopter ferrying the limousine dropped it. So Hillary’s car now sits forever at the bottom of the Cape Town bay.
Our driver let out a hearty laugh after telling the story.
As Clinton moves from private life to a presidential candidate, there will be many jokes that will hurt her. Some will be friendly. Some will be political. Some will be obscene.
Pay close attention. The humour will tell us much about the struggle of women in America.
Our Declaration of Independence speaks specifically about the equality of men. Women, however, were given secondary status by our founding fathers, and could not vote. This was not the only inequality.
For various reasons, America was slow to acknowledge domestic violence against women. Wrongly accused, women went to prison too often for defending themselves against violence at home.
Labour laws did not protect women against unequal pay, and still don’t do enough. The recent firing of New York Times editor Jill Abramson is reported to have occurred because she demanded pay equal to her predecessors. Management denies this.
Control of Their Bodies
There are now laws against sexual harassment but ask most American women whether it has been eradicated. The answer will be a firm no, and they can point to a surprising statistic that nearly two in ten American women have been sexually assaulted.
Since the 1970s, many women have been fighting a legal battle over the right to control their own bodies during pregnancy. The Supreme Court has said yes, but religious conservatives have restricted the right to an abortion in many states.
There are similar debates and lawsuits over in vitro fertilisation, and the right of lesbian and gay couples to adopt children.
Women often drop out of the workplace for many years when they have children, because businesses do not have liberal time-off policies. In Sweden, for example, a new parent can be on leave for one year with 90 per cent of pay.
In some instances, American women do not get the same medical care as men. Women often suffer heart attacks because doctors do not recognize that their symptoms are different than men.
In a review of our history books, the heroes are usually men. Yet, women are as much a part of the American struggle as men. They are half of our population.
The subliminal message, unfortunately, is that an American woman must get a man to get a fair deal.
This will be the first time for America with a woman as a presidential candidate.
Much has changed since the 1700s. But not enough to believe that 2016 elections will be free of bias.
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