Rather than playing the role of the liberated woman who doesn’t “stand by her man,” Hillary lets her husband campaign for her and defend her against criticism (noticeably, whenever the Clintons got into catfights with Barack Obama, the boldest attacks always came from Bill). Despite her careers as a lawyer and U.S. Senator, she now says that being a mother to Chelsea is “the most important job I ever had.”
These days, Hillary doesn’t even recite the usual feminist canards on abortion. In 2006, she maintained a pro-choice position while acknowledging that abortion is a “sad, even tragic choice for many, many women.” This is not the feminist position, which is to claim that having an abortion is good for a woman’s “self-esteem” (I’m not kidding about that: look up the work of feminist researcher Nancy Felipe Russo).
Voters are catching on to Hillary’s attitude adjustment.
“There is a decidedly post-feminist appeal occurring within the Clinton campaign,” one reporter described it. “It features a very different Clinton than the young feminist at Wellesley.” According to political strategist Kellyanne Conway, Hillary knows she needs to “repair the relationship she damaged with America's stay-at-home moms and grandmas, many of whom felt she disapproved of their life choices.”
This is a smart strategy, especially since many famous female leaders of developed countries publicly disavowed feminism. Golda Meir, the first female Prime Minister of Israel, described feminists as “a bunch of bra-burning nuts.” To the horror of feminists worldwide, Meir said the most fulfilling thing a woman could do in life was have a baby. Margaret Thatcher, the first woman to lead Great Britain, famously declared that “I owe nothing to women’s lib.” Thatcher attributed her success to her own hard work, not to the women’s movement.
On the other hand, female candidates who align themselves with the ladies at NOW typically share the fate of Patricia Schroeder, former Democratic representative from Colorado. Shortly after feminists began hyping Schroeder as “their” candidate, Schroeder tearfully announced that she wouldn’t run for President, saying she hadn’t “figured it out yet.”
Hillary has. Maybe she’s still a feminist at heart, but at least she’s smart enough not to campaign as one.