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Melinda Henneberger

If They Only Listened to Us: What Women Voters Want Politicians to Hear Hardcover – May 1, 2007

by Melinda Henneberger (Author)

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Soon after the 2004 presidential election, veteran reporter Melinda Henneberger set out across the country to listen to women of all ages and occupations express their strong opinions on the major issues of our time. Over eighteen months she spoke in depth and at length with more than two hundred women in twenty states, from Massachusetts to Arizona and Oregon to Texas. She discovered how unheard women feel, how ignored and disregarded by both major parties and by most politicians.

Listening to women all over the nation -- not only on what are traditionally thought of as "women's issues" but on issues of paramount importance to all Americans -- Henneberger shines a light on what women voters are thinking and how that translates into how and for whom they vote.

The issues that these women focused on were Iraq, abortion, the environment, globalization (and job loss), and corruption (and lack of trust) in the government and the entire electoral process. Again and again these women of all ages, social classes, and regions returned to the matter of authenticity. And they came back again and again to their commonly held feeling that neither party takes any genuine interest in their actual lives, that politicians across the board seem, as a young waitress in Sacramento put it, "to be talking about people who don't exist."

A patient, sensitive, experienced, intelligent listener, Henneberger reports how women feel about the nation's politics and politicians. Her findings will surprise you. Knowing the answers these women give will tell you a great deal about how the next presidential and other elections will be decided.

Print length

240 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Simon & Schuster
Publication date

May 1, 2007
Dimensions

6.13 x 0.8 x 9.25 inches
ISBN-10

0743278968
ISBN-13

978-0743278966
See all details

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Puzzled by why traditionally Democrat women switched camps and voted for George Bush in the 2004 election, Henneberger, a contributing editor at Newsweek, set out to identify divisive issues among women. Traveling around the country, she talked with a random sample of 234 ordinary women in 20 states—both blue and red. The result is a compelling and surprising look at what most sways women's votes. In 2006, 51% of voters were female; yet, with the exception of professionals trying to juggle motherhood and careers, average women are not asked their opinions on what they consider to be pivotal issues—abortion, religion and gay marriage, among others. While many profess to be Democrats at heart, numerous women switched sides during the presidential election because of just a single issue, even when they agreed with the Democrats on everything else. Even extremely anti-Bush Katrina victims say they won't hold Bush's ineffectiveness against his party, and they will vote for the candidate who supports their belief on the most critical matters. With political campaigning beginning earlier than ever and elections won by the narrowest of margins, politicians on both sides would do well to heed Henneberger's message that for the average woman, all issues are not created equal; candidates would do well to listen to the voices she recounts. (May)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Journalist Henneberger traveled the nation to ask women what mattered to them and examined those heartfelt concerns against the political issues more often trotted out by candidates. What she found was that women's opinions did not match the neatly labeled conventional wisdoms of the gender gap or soccer moms. Henneberger visited childhood girlfriends, with her twin daughters in tow, in her hometown of Mount Carmel, Illinois; she talked to women who had survived Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans; black women in Milwaukee; Catholic women in Denver. She heard a broad range of opinions from a cross section of American women, but what she mostly heard was how glad these women were to have someone listen to them talk about the important concerns of the day, including the war, economics, sex, and religion. Putting journalism aside, Henneberger offers a close-up look at the opinions of 234 women in 12 states, keeping the statistics and political analysis for the footnotes. An absorbing collection. Vanessa Bush
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

"In If They Only Listened to Us, Melinda Henneberger offers politicians a witty, incisive, and sharp direction manual for making the gender gap work to their advantage. Anyone interested in politics, and how to be successful in politics, would be wise to pay attention. She knows what she's talking about and she's right."

-- Donna Brazile, political strategist and Al Gore's campaign manager in 2000

"Pioneering a new and bracing form of journalism, Melinda Henneberger offers an inspiring break from the normal run of political analysis. If They Only Listened to Us will be one of the best explanations we get for how George W. Bush could rise so high and fall so low. The president would have done well to listen to them, the people in this book."

-- E. J. Dionne, Jr, author of Why Americans Hate Politics

"I am not a woman or a politician, but this is a must-read for anyone who is fascinated by, passionate about, or at all concerned with politics. Melinda Henneberger opened my eyes to critical issues around abortion and gay rights that have changed my thinking on these issues."

-- Robert Greenwald, producer and director of Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price and Iraq for Sale

"This is the book that will make you care about politics again. Melinda Henneberger's storytelling is so revelatory and the women she talks to so wise that readers simply won't be able to look at '08 as just another red-versus-blue horse race. Her highly personal account reintroduces us to all of the issues that matter most, as they are actually lived and deeply felt."

-- Arianna Huffington, author of On Becoming Fearless and editor in chief of the HuffingtonPost.com

"Everyone claims to know what women want, but Melinda Henneberger actually went out and asked them. In this engaging, eye-opening book, she gives voice to their hopes, concerns, and especially their frustrations. Both political parties would be wise to listen."

-- Amy Sullivan, contributing editor of The Washington Monthly and author of the forthcoming Resurrection: Why Democrats Need to See the Light if They Want to Win the White House

About the Author

Melinda Henneberger is a former reporter for The New York Times and a former contributing editor for Newsweek magazine. She lives with her husband and their two children outside Washington, D.C.

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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Simon & Schuster; First Printing (1,2,3...) edition (May 1, 2007)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 240 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0743278968
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0743278966
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 14.6 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.13 x 0.8 x 9.25 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #5,571,671 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #6,243 in Elections
- #10,708 in Feminist Theory (Books)

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poe

if they only listened to us,melinda henneberger

Reviewed in the United States on July 6, 2007

Verified Purchase

this book is a must read for every man and woman, its a "look in the mirror" fact finder on how,why we vote, this writer tells a story like anne tyler and investigative reporting as of amy goodman, a star has been born with this young writer, awesome,explantory read.

2 people found this helpful

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JoanneBamberger

The better question is WHY don't they listen?

Reviewed in the United States on November 8, 2007

Melinda Henneberger, a contributing writer at The Huffington Post, traveled around the country interviewing a variety of women to get their input on what's important to them politically.

For political junkie like me, it's a great and inspiring read. I often get frustrated, wondering where all the women voters are and why so many of us stay home at election time. Do we care what's going on in the political world? Or are we simply frustrated that the system just doesn't work for us?

The question I'd really like to have answered on this topic is, "Why?"

If "they" only listened to us, it would be great. But isn't the bigger question, "Why don't they listen to us?"

Those volunteers slaving to make things better in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. Women activists who have turned away from their political parties because they feel that no one is listening. Wives and mothers who are tuned into politics, but are increasingly put off by the failure of the system to benefit those who need it the most.

I think the answer is simple -- we're not the ones opening our wallets to the candidates.

If abortion rights or providing relief for those hit by natural disasters were high on the priority list for Halliburton or the big pharmaceutical companies, you can bet there would be a lot more action on Capitol Hill than there is now on those issues.

So, should we open up our wallets for candidates or issues we believe in, regardless of whether we live in a red state or a blue state? Chip in a few dollars for those who share our vision, regardless of what party we're registered with?

I made a small donation to a Senate candidate this week who isn't even from my state because he shares a world view that makes my political heart skip a beat. It certainly wasn't enough to cause a blip on the fundraising radar, but I figure it's a start.
add to sk*rt

2 people found this helpful

Helpful

C. Rudder

What Women Want?

Reviewed in the United States on July 9, 2007

In endorsing John Kerry over George W. Bush for President in 2004, The Economist slyly suggested the choice was between the incoherent and the incompetent. Elections in general tend to be a matter of "choosing between the disastrous and the unpalatable," John Kenneth Galbraith wrote President Kennedy in 1962.

To judge from Melinda Henneberger's book, If They Only Listened to Us: What Women Voters Want Politicians to Hear, this lesson is lost on many Americans who feel that their meager electoral fare is served up by unheeding politicians. Women, in particular, think their preferences are ignored by Democrats in particular, says Henneberger, a columnist for the Catholic opinion journal Commonweal and a regular contributor to the online magazine Slate. It is arresting to hear that politicians in the U.S. pay too little attention to public opinion, not to mention that the Democrats' problem is that the party does not attract enough women.

Based on the amount of space she gives to abortion politics, Henneberger especially wants the Democratic Party to be more responsive to women who oppose abortion. Twice she quotes interviewee Kelly Dore saying, "I'm with the Democrats on ninety percent of the issues. But if you're pro-life, they don't even want you." (pp. 10 and 137)

Moderate your position on abortion and maybe gay rights, Henneberger implies, and you Democrats will have regained a reliable majority of the American voting public. She ignores that such a policy shift might seem calamitous to many other women, not to mention men, who currently vote for Democrats. Henneberger cites the success of Pennsylvania's Senator Bob Casey, Jr., an anti-abortion Democrat as proof that Casey's position on abortion points the way to dominance over the Republicans.

The premise of Henneberger's book is weakened by the fact that women already vote disproportionately for Democrats compared with men, as the phrase "the gender gap" connotes. This finding is breezily acknowledged but largely ignored by Henneberger who believes that more women would vote for the Dems if they would "only listen."

Henneberger did listen. Using what survey researchers call a purposive sample, as opposed to a statistically random one, she called on friends, relatives, and friends of friends in selected U.S. cities and towns and listened to what these women, singly and in groups, had to say. To a degree, she seems to have found what she expected to find, concern that Democrats insist on abortion as a right. Still, because Henneberger is a perceptive journalist, her report on her travels around the country is worth a quick read, particularly for the pleasure of meeting some of the people with whom she talks.

Henneberger introduces the reader to a series of inspirational women, and one man John George of Blight Busters in Detroit, who are initiators and performers of good work. In New Orleans, the reader encounters Anne Milling of Women of the Storm and Becky Zaheri of Katrina Krew helping to rebuild New Orleans physically and spiritually. In Florence, Arizona, Victoria Lopez of the Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project untiringly provides legal services to undocumented immigrants in a federal detention facility of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, formerly known as the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

Not only have these activists not given up on politics, they aren't waiting to be "listened to." The difference between an Anne Milling and the "us" in the title of the book is that Milling understands what it means to live in a free country. She knows the "free" does not refer to a costless passivity that waits for someone else to fix what's wrong and to ask for "our" approval. Better to see freedom as the nation's openness to political activism, initiative, and voluntarism. A Victoria Lopez sees a crying need and responds with her heart and soul. The "us" waits for someone to listen.

Generalizing from Henneberger's interviews to the wider universe of American women is problematic. It is surprising that such issues as the distorting role of money in politics, spying on American citizens by the National Security Agency, torture of suspected "enemy combatants," or the suspension of habeas corpus play little or no role in the narrative. ("Torture" is mentioned three times in the book, all in reference to abortion.) These missing links may be attributable to the sample, to Henneberger's selective listening, or to a general lack of concern by the respondents about matters that impinge on the health of American democracy.

Despite the limitations of the purposive sample, in-depth probing can reveal what a large survey instrument generally cannot: the way people form their opinions, how they think about politics, and how they respond to the choices they are offered. Unfortunately, the interviews are too often marred by gratuitous comments from the author like, "And when you have animal-rights-activist lesbians of color thinking [about voting for] John McCain, do I need to say how far the Democrats have to go?" (p. 75) Surely, a political writer as well-informed as Henneberger is aware that a substantial source of the gender gap stems from the much larger number of unmarried women, both lesbian and straight, who vote for Democrats rather than for Republicans.

Politicians in the Democratic Party could create a catalogue of the suggestions arising from these interviews in the hopes of improving election chances with these folks. Accordingly, "listening" Democrats should

* Be more tolerant of those opposing abortion
* Nominate better candidates
* Be more effective in responding to Republicans
* Be personable and likeable
* Be believable
* Not talk down to voters
* Not be condescending to their opponents
* Not talk too fast or be too facile
* Not make fun of the Republican candidate, especially George W. Bush
* Not nominate John Kerry (or Hillary Clinton, for that matter)

How much useful advice can the Democrats glean from such a mélange? Not much, though they ought to remember the part about not being condescending. If these suggestions induce Democratic candidates to take the risk of simply being themselves and showing that they are comfortable with themselves, so much the better. As to who the Democratic presidential candidate should be in 2008, Galbraith had it right: less unpalatable than the Republican. Same goes for the Republicans. Whichever party succeeds in this task will win, barring an independent Bloomberg candidacy or an overreaching Supreme Court that forgets who the electors are.

If you enjoy the ins and outs of political maneuvering to produce public policy, you might try a book I co-authored with A. Lee Fritschler: Smoking and Politics: Bureaucracy Centered Policymaking (6th Edition) (Real Politics in America Series) .

6 people found this helpful

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Julio

A Small Gem

Reviewed in the United States on July 10, 2007

This book is a small gem: smart, painstakingly reported and superbly written. Melinda Henneberger introduces us to women who are seldom heard from in the national political discussion, and lets them have their say. I was especially interested in the deep misgivings women expressed about Hillary Clinton. Regardless of what the polls say, their comments should be a big, fat red flag to the people running her campaign. Henneberger's work is well worth the time of anyone who wants to deepen their understanding of the forces at play in the 2008 campaign.

One person found this helpful

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Deborah

Delightful Reading

Reviewed in the United States on July 31, 2007

Finally, someone is listening to female voters-thank you Melinda Henneberger! This book is a fair, balanced and sensitive account of what is on the minds of American women across the political and geographical divide. It should be required reading for anyone running for political office.

One person found this helpful

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