Triple Standards

In an interview yesterday, Sarah Palin indicated that she had a word for future women who would run for office or seek to obtain a high position in a man's world. She must be prepared to work extra hard and expect a lot of double standards to be applied. The interview came in light of the presssure this week to answer charges from within the campaign that Palin was a diva. I submit that not only must a woman in today's world work hard, but she must also be prepared for triple standards as well.

It has long been known that conservative women face a tremendous uphill battle in the Republican world. These are standards imposed upon them by men. Ask any woman like myself who has also faced this battle, and we can give you many examples of double standards. For years we have been taught in our churches that women's places were in the home, nurturing their husbands and children and also participating in church ministries. I attended a retreat in the early 1980's at my former university only to hear an administrator claim that women's careers were not as important to them as men's careers were to them. Unfortunately, that double standard still continues a quarter of a century later.

The triple standard comes from other women who resent a newcomer's success for one reason or another. From conservative women critics, we hear that Palin is too attractive and young and obviously chosen by McCain because of her beauty. They speak these words only after being declared irrelevant themselves since their own beauty and youth have long faded. Liberal women, as Charles Krauthammer said in his newspaper column today, have been obsessed with "a psychodrama of feminist rage and elite loathing" of Palin. While they claim to represent all women, they simply represent women who are pro-choice only. Sadly, that representation excludes one-half of us.

While I am thrilled for all the African-Americans who now know that yes, indeed, they too can now become President of the United States, I wonder how much longer we women will wait for the same opportunity. Triple standards are not easily erased in American society.