Opinion: We need to talk about the way we criticize women politicians

Following Democratic frontrunner Joe Biden’s announcement that Kamala Harris would be his running mate, the sexist non-insults that drove the 2016 election immediately resurfaced. And we’re tired of it.

Former vice president and Democratic frontrunner Joe Biden announced last week that he’d chosen Sen. Kamala Harris as his running mate for the 2020 election, a groundbreaking decision despite whatever criticisms voters may have against either candidate. Harris is both the first Black woman and first Asian American to have her name on a major party ticket, both exciting achievements no matter how you feel about her policies.

Of course, those who don’t support Biden or Harris were quick to voice their opinions about the Democratic duo, something that’s to be expected in any presidential run. But the backlash against Harris soon began to take on a different tone — one that was instantly recognizable to anyone who followed the 2016 election closely.

You see, most voters anticipate hearing politicians smear one another, especially during an election campaign. It’s all part of the bipartisan game, for better or for worse. But when a woman is on a party ticket, an interesting thing happens: Words that once held positive connotations when applied to their male colleagues begin to be leveraged as insults. And frankly, it’s unacceptable that this is still happening in 2020.

The best example of this is when CNBC reported that several of Biden’s allies believed Harris to be “too ambitious” to be his running mate. Not only is this a comment that would never carry negative weight when aimed at a male candidate, but it’s laughable to think that anyone running for one of the highest offices in the country wouldn’t be ambitious. Trevor Noah put it best when covering it on The Daily Show: Do these people seriously think that politicians get elected by having people show up at their door and whisk them off the couch to glory? Apparently so.

Sadly, that wasn’t the only comment of this nature hurled at Harris since the announcement last week. Instead of attacking her policies or qualifications, President Donald Trump took aim at Harris’ personality in response to her appointment. Speaking with Fox, he referred to her as not just “a madwoman,” but “condescending” and “angry” — all qualities no male politician in the history of politics has ever exhibited, surely. (And certainly not on Twitter on a daily basis.)

But women politicians aren’t supposed to be angry or confident in their abilities because women aren’t supposed to be those things. Far too long has society upheld the ideal of women as agreeable and motherly figures, and those stereotypes have come back to bite every female politician running for office. We saw it with former Democratic frontrunner and supposedly “nasty woman” Hillary Clinton, too.

Are there valid critiques to be presented in regards to Harris and Clinton? Sure. No politician is perfect. But where men running for office get torn apart for their stances on major political issues, women get dragged through the mud for being too nasty. Too angry. Too ambitious. The list goes on.

And men who benefit from keeping women out of positions of power — “their positions” — aren’t going to stop making comments like these. But we can. It’s time we rethink the way we discuss women in politics from the ground up. Next time you go to explain why you don’t like a female candidate, perhaps take a step back and check that you’re talking about her policies and qualifications — not who she is as a person.

Another word of advice? If you’d never use that phrase to insult a man, maybe you shouldn’t use it to criticize a woman either.

You don’t need to like Kamala Harris. You didn’t need to like Hillary Clinton either. You do, however, need to extend the same level of respect to them that you’d offer any man standing on that debate stage. Not because they’re someone’s daughter. Not because they’re someone’s wife. Because they are people and politicians with just as much right to be there as Biden or Trump. Let’s start acting like it.

Do you think we need to rethink the way we discuss women in politics? Sound off in the comments below.