The Mountaineer

Issue date: 3/25/08 Section: Feature

Media Credit: Jessica Herrera Gloria Molina spoke at Founder's Hall on Wed. March 12. She is an avid supporter of Hillary Clinton.

In honor of Women's History Month, several activities were scheduled for the Mt. SAC community. A featured session was a speaker's forum that discussed Hillary Clinton's run for president of the United States.
There were two guest speakers at the event, each presenting their take on a woman in the presidential race. Gloria Molina has been serving as a Los Angeles county supervisor since 1991 and she is the first woman and Latina elected to state legislature. Dr. Jean Schroedel taught at Yale University and wrote three books. She is currently teaching at Claremont Graduate University.
With standing room only because Founder's Hall was filled with students, a few photographers, a reporter from the Highlander, and others, Molina and Schroedel spoke for about 40 minutes and answered questions in a discussion environment for another 20 minutes.
Molina is an avid supporter of Clinton; of any minority in political office, in fact. She said she wants every woman to have every opportunity that every individual should have. Schroedel chose not to disclose her political affiliations, but said the presidential office is "masculinized" and Clinton "faces very real obstacles." She also said that 54 percent of about 1,000 people polled said they did not think the U.S. was ready for a woman president.
Proudly wearing a Clinton campaign button, Molina made her case about why she supports Clinton.
"She has courage, leadership, experience, she's someone to be admired," Molina said. "She has a track record of being involved…I've been working very hard…in supporting Hillary Clinton."
Schroedel spoke in more general terms, mentioning that more than 80 other countries have had female heads of state. She also talked about two male news commentators who likened Clinton's election to castration. Schroedel said if comments were made on a racist level toward Barack Obama, the public would be outraged. She asked why nobody, meaning the public in general, was questioning the sexism of the comments made toward Clinton.
"Hillary Clinton faces very real obstacles," Schroedel said. "She needs to forge a path that gets rid of stereotypes and redefines what is currently a masculinized office."
Kate Cannon, a history professor at Mt. SAC, asked during the discussion if there was a difference between the U.S. being ready for a woman president or this woman president. Molina responded from her own experience.
"The issue of gender will always come up," she said. "It will always be part of the equation. It's about this woman, but it's also about any woman who runs."
Molina also said it was harder to be the first woman than the first Latina running for a political office. She said men get to assume certain adjectives that are associated with political roles, while women have to prove them, because "sexism still plays quite a role in politics." She added that she thinks young people consider candidates differently, which may be wonderful. They want a candidate to prove why they should receive a vote, instead of looking at gender or race.
As far as Clinton goes, Molina said, "It's going to be a tough campaign…[but] I'm proud of her every day."

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