Rethinking Madam President: Are We Ready for a Woman in the White House? [Paperback]

Lori Cox Han (Editor), Caroline Heldman (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 30, 2007

From the political rumor mill to pop culture, all signs suggest that the United States is finally ready for a woman in the White House. But is the vision of an imminent Madam President truly in line with today's political reality?

Rethinking Madam President offers a critical assessment of the inroads made by female candidates into the previously male bastion of electoral success--exploring whether they are at all relevant to the race for the presidency. The authors tackle a range of provocative issues: the conflation of the presidency with masculinity; media coverage focusing, even today, on the novelty of a female candidate; public support for women that often evaporates in the voting booth; and more. Although Madam President is not an impossibility, they conclude, it would be a mistake to ignore the very significant hurdles that women still face on the path to the Oval Office.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Informative and insightful.... The authors provide a compelling appraisal of the barriers that a woman US presidential candidate must confront, and overcome, in order to win the nomination and election. --Sharon Z. Alter, William Rainey Harper College and Roosevelt University

This is a significant contribution.... Offering concrete data and tools for evaluating how accessible the Oval Office is to women, Rethinking Madam President should find wide readership among scholars and frequent classroom adoption. --MaryAnne Borrelli, Connecticut College --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From the Back Cover

"Informative and insightful.... The authors provide a compelling appraisal of the barriers that a woman US presidential candidate must confront, and overcome, in order to win the nomination and election."
--Sharon Z. Alter, William Rainey Harper College and Roosevelt University

"This is a significant contribution.... Offering concrete data and tools for evaluating how accessible the Oval Office is to women, Rethinking Madam President should find wide readership among scholars and frequent classroom adoption."
--MaryAnne Borrelli, Connecticut College

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 229 pages
• Publisher: Lynne Rienner Pub (July 30, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1588265196
• ISBN-13: 978-1588265197
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,420,191 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars It will happen one day. Just give it time!, June 23, 2009

By 

Jeffery Mingo (Homewood, IL USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Rethinking Madam President: Are We Ready for a Woman in the White House? (Paperback)

This book was published before the 2008 election. It speaks about the challenges and victories that shape whether the US will have a female president. I liked its evaluations and diverse chapter topics.
In women's studies classes, they emphasize that gender and sex are different concepts. The authors in this book try to spell out that both being women and the status of the presidency seen as a masculine job hurts women's chances. The book says sexism would have to decrease in this country, but also that citizens would have to be more comfortable of women in "masculine" jobs for there to be a female president. Many news articles have said it's not a question of if, but when the US gets a female president, and this book does not veer from that point.
To me, the latter chapters were easier to read than the former ones. After a while, this book became of Who's Who of Women in the Legislature and Executive branches. A poli. sci. major could get a quick brush-up on women in politics here.
The work speaks of Geena Davis' show and how art could open the door to life. None of the researchers are psychics, but some of them do hint, "There's some guy named Obama who seems to be in the wings." This book pays a lot of attention to Hillary Clinton as it should. Still, the authors could not have predicted that she'd become Secretary of State and get some background in this "masculine" job.
I have two critiques of the emphasized women here. The book sometimes hints, "If not Hillary, then Condi Rice." It does admit that Condi never said she would run for the job. However, I am incredibly skeptical that Black conservatives who get appointed to positions can get elected to them. I'm not convinced that Far Right voters would embrace her; I'm an African American and I'd really say I can't imagine my community leaving its favored party and voting for Condi. Lord knows I wouldn't have. Chald, Claire Huxtable could get elected President before Condi Rice could. This work used Louisiana's Governor Blanco as an example of sexism against female leaders. It suggests Rudolph Giuliani was praised around 911 when she was condemned around Katrina. Sorry, but I heard both women and men, in Louisiana and outside of it, say Blanco did a poor job in that crisis. Painting her as a victim was not plausible to me.
This book becomes more dated each day, but I thought it was a strong text.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Timely and Well-Written, April 1, 2008

By 

J. Aragon "Feminist Educator" - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Rethinking Madam President: Are We Ready for a Woman in the White House? (Paperback)

What a great anthology. This book brings together some of the great minds of legislative, presidential, media, and gender studies within Political Science. My favourite piece by far was Georgia Duerst-Lahti's. She is witty and intelligent and this comes across in her detailed analysis about the newscoverage of the candidates and the prefernece for masculinity or more masculine terms.

Kim Fridkin's essay on the media is also illuminating. I've looked at my copy of the book and it's dog eared in each chapter. There is something for everyone. The chapter about executive leadership is also useful with the historical breakdown of women leaders.

Overall a great read. The book could be read by a lay audience or an academic audience. I'll definitely use some sections in my summer course (American Politics) and other courses.

5.0 out of 5 stars Good classroom compendium, January 20, 2011

By 

Janis L. Edwards (Tuscaloosa, AL United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Rethinking Madam President: Are We Ready for a Woman in the White House? (Paperback)

Alhough the topic of U.S. political leadership and masculinity appears in various sources, this is the one book I like to use in my "Gender and Political Communication" course (besides my own book) that summarizes much of the topic of the gendered presidency. Well-done and useful. Like the provocative title.Gender and Political Communication in America: Rhetoric, Representation, and Display (Lexington Studies in Political Communication)