How women in politics are treated by the media

Did you know first ladies aren’t supposed to wear gowns off the rack to formal events? Laura Bush learned this lesson the hard way after showing up at a 2006 White House reception in the same gown as four other guests. CBS News correspondent Thalia Assura described the red dress as “... $8,500 Oscar de la Renta dress…”. After Bush’s staff realized several other women were wearing the dress she was escorted upstairs to change. Several articles were written about the mistake but reportedly everyone involved including the First Lady found it amusing. Anita McBride, Laura Bush’s chief of staff, clarified that normally first ladies would only wear custom dresses to avoid this embarrassing fashion faux pas. She went on to explain “... you can understand why they have to have things done just for them, particularly for state dinners or Kennedy Center Honors or things overseas. You can understand the need for the outfit to be unique.”. Luckily all parties were able to laugh about the situation...

When the Vogue cover of Vice President Kamala Harris was released people were not impressed by the photograph. For the cover shoot Kamala wore what was described in The New York Times as “a dark jacket by Donald Deal, skinny pants, Converse and her trademark pearls.”. Social media was not impressed and many expressed how they felt the outfit didn’t convey her position of power. One author wrote in a Washington Post article “...in a world where strong Black women are often maligned as intimidating and unfeminine, the image Vogue chose reduced Harris just as she is taking her rightful place at the heights of American power.”. Due to the backlash an alternate cover was released where Kamala Harris posed in a blue Michael Kors pantsuit with an American Flag pin. The alternate cover was better received by the public, but the other cover was still widely talked about in the media. People also cited this as evidence that Vogue editor in chief, Anna Wintour, continues to not be inclusive towar...

For the 2021 Met Gala, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez wore a white gown that had “Tax the Rich” painted on the back. A bold statement such as this created a lot of controversy on social media and throughout new outlets. Different headlines the next day read “Why A.O.C. 's Met Gala Dress Made People Mad”, “The Controversy Over AOC’s ‘Tax the Rich’ dress”, and “AOC ripped for attending Met Gala in ‘Tax the Rich’ dress”.  On social media people were divided as some supported her bold message while others felt it was obnoxious and not the proper setting. Later two Conservative groups filed ethical complaints against Ocasio-Cortez citing that “she flouted House rules…”, according to the New York Post. They also cited that the gown was an “impermissible gift” because she didn’t pay for it. After the complaint was filed though Ocasio-Cortez did pay for the gown and additional service but news outlets still circulated the story. Ocasio-Cortez defended her choice to wear the gown by stating “Ulti...

Chelsea Clinton has never held a political office, but she is very much still involved in the political world. Her parents are former President Bill Clinton and Hillary Cinton, who was both a first lady and a presidential candidate. A previous blog post about Michelle Obama detailed how she was critiqued by the media for wearing a pair of shoes that many felt were too expensive. A similar issue happened to Chelsea Clinton in 2017 when she was critiqued for wearing shoes that were described as “frayed” and “shredded” to a business meeting. Her outfit as a whole was described as “a red, above-the-knee fit-and-flare dress, her go-to nude pumps, and a black leather tote.”. Daily Mail was the only news company to write an article heavily critiquing Chelsea’s shoe choice and several other news sources, Glamour and HuffPost, wrote articles defending her. In the Daily Mail article, they included zoomed-in pictures of the shoes and described them as “... they looked more beat up and scratched, ...

In 2008, when Sarah Palin was a vice-presidential nominee she came under fire for her expensive style choices.That year a campaign finance complaint was filed against her due to her high clothing budget. The watchdog group that filed the complaint revealed to the public that the Republican National Committee had spent $150,000 to clothe Sarah Palin and her family. Many news outlets criticized the Republican National Committee for spending such an absorbent amount of money on fashion alone for her campaign and public appearances. American citizens spoke out on social media criticizing Palin and the campaign’s choice to spend this much on clothing when there are everyday people who could use financial help. However, Palin defended herself by calling the criticism sexist as she stated “ Say, superficial things that they don't talk about with men, her wardrobe and her hairstyles, all of that? That's a bit of that double standard.”. Palin directly addressed the exact topic of my blo...

Women in American politics aren’t the only ones facing scrutiny for their fashion choices, the women of the British royal family have their fashion heavily critiqued as well. Kate Middleton, in particular, has been styled to fit all of the royal rules and regulations that the royal family is expected to adhere to, but even that isn’t enough to keep her fashion choices out of the headlines. Recently many articles have come out that have called Middleton’s fashion “too conservative”. Different news outlets have called her too boring and too bland, but recently, possibly due to the backlash, she decided to take a bold step in a new direction. In April, for the first time ever Kate was photographed with her nails painted red. When reporting on the matter many headlines went something like “Kate Middleton breaks royal protocol”, like the Page Six headline. Some praised her for doing a more daring look than her usual nude, clear, or light pink nail polish. Many on Twitter shared their excite...

Similar to Nancy Regan, Michelle Obama faced criticism as well for her fashion choices while serving as First Lady. In 2009, while visiting a Food Bank Michelle Obama wore a business casual outfit paired with sneakers. These sneakers cause a frenzy in the media because they were “...$540 Lanvin sneakers…”, according to Vanity Fair. The public was already aware due to previous articles that Michelle Obama enjoyed wearing sneakers, but in the past she only wore Chuck Taylors or Converse in public. When reporters questioned her about her shoe choice that day she simply stated “They’re shoes.”. Her answer was blunt, but resonated with the public because she was unapologetic about her choice in footwear. Many on social media came to her defense that day, pointing out that everything she wears is going to be unfairly critiqued. Whether she wears affordable or expensive sneakers the media will always have something to say, and sometimes all you can really say at that point is “They're sho...

In the realm of fashion and politics, Hillary Clinton is often referred to as Queen of the Pantsuit. This choice isn’t just a fashion choice, but a statement within itself. Many articles have been written on why Clinton chooses to dress this way. In many of these articles, specifically CNBC, she states one her reasoning for this choice in a quote that reads “I… thought it would be good to do what male politicians do and wear more or less the same thing every day.” In that same article she states that she has another reason for wearing them in a quote that reads “A uniform was also an anti-distraction technique: since there wasn’t much to say or report on what I wore, maybe people would focus on what I was saying instead,”. However, the exact event that caused Clinton to no longer wear skirts or dresses occurred in Brazil in 1999. She described the event in an article by the Guardian in which she tells the story of how suggestive photos were once taken of her by the Brazilian press and ...

During Nancy Regan’s time in the White House her glamorous style was widely recognized by the media, but also heavily criticized. Throughout her husband’s presidency she wore many expensive designers from Micheal Kors to Oscar de la Renta and so many more. In 1983 there was even a paper doll book released after her fashionable looks by Tom Tierny, according to an LA Times article. While the media admired her sense of fashion they wanted to know if she was using taxpayer dollars to afford these clothes. Nancy insisted that the clothes were donations and designers wanted her to advertise their clothes. However Timeline.com found evidence that states otherwise and an excerpt of their findings read “Over eight years, Reagan accepted roughly $1 million worth of clothing that she never paid for. What made matters worse is that she had promised to return all of it, then never did.”. At the time many citizens wrote in to complain about Nancy’s excessive show of wealth through her fashion and s...

The other fashion choices I have addressed don’t have any graphics or words written on them, but this fashion choice does. In June 2018, when former First Lady Melania Trump wore what was described by CNN Politics as “... an army-green jacket with these words written on the back in white: “I really don’t care. Do U?.” she caused quite a stir in the media. This was her outfit of choice to visit children separated from their parents, some of whom were separated from their immigrant parents as part of Trump’s policy at the time. Immediately, when the pictures of her jacket were released the media tried to understand why she would wear something that conveys this message to go visit children in a shelter. Many people on Twitter reacted by releasing different illustrations with the message “We care, don't you?” and condemning Melanie for wearing this outfit for that occasion. One company, Wildfang, made a similar replica to the jacket but instead the back read “I Really Care. Don’t U?” ...

Who knew just a coat could cause such a stir? Nancy Pelsoi caused quite a frenzy online due to the coat she chose to wear to a meeting with former President Donald Trump at the White House. Catherine Thorbecke, a Good America writer, described the outfit by writing “ a fire-red, high-collared coat”. Social media coveted the term “fire colored coat”’ to describe Pelosi’s outfit choice that day. The reason this coat caused such a stir is because Pelosi wore this same coat for former President Barack Obama’s second inauguration. Throughout Trump’s political campaign and presidency Pelosi remained outspoken about her dislike for him. Many felt that by wearing this coat she was sending him a message of her stance on him as the new president. Users on social media seemed to support her decision according to the Good Morning America article, which featured supportive tweets. One of which read “ Exiting the White House, @NancyPelosi is wearing her Orange You Sorry You Started This Fight Coat....

  When Amy Coney Barrett was being sworn in I vividly remember watching different political talk shows give their opinions on her political views and her attire that day. The day of her swearing in she chose to wear what described by the Washington Post as “... a sleek magenta dress, a pearl necklace, and a black mask.”. This look was criticized heavily and picked apart by political journalists and people on Twitter. Some felt that her look was too casual while others felt that her appearance shouldn’t be discussed at all. In the same Washington Post article, a female attorney gave her opinion on Barrett’s outfit by stating “ No male judge would be dressed in less than correct courtroom attire. It’s inappropriately casual.”. However when another woman was asked about her opinion on Barrett’s attire she simply stated “Who cares what she wears?”. Various people weighed in on Twitter and there were many people on both sides of the spectrum. A Forbes news article written about the cont...

 

  My blog’s theme is how women in politics are treated differently by the media than men, and I choose this topic because while watching and reading the news I have often noticed that womens’ appearances are analyzed more closely than mens’ when running for public office. Political candidates are already under a microscope when running for office but then the focus is even more increased on women as their fashion and physical appearance becomes a hyper focus for the media. For example I will specifically analyze previous articles written about Stacey Abrams and Amy Coney Barrett when they were in the public eye. This topic is relevant because during each election season news articles and journalists discuss female candidates appearances and rarely ever focus on this topic for the male candidates. As you follow my blog post I encourage you to pay close attention to how news articles and journalists discuss womens’ appearances more than men during election season.