Former Clinton speechwriter brings women's role in politics to SIUC

A former aide to the Clinton administration said Monday that although the number of women in national politics has been on the rise since the 1980s, women in politics today are on the decline nationally.

Heather Hurlburt, a former speechwriter for Clinton, said society has made it commonplace for women to be in powerful political positions, but now American culture is moving backward into what the expectations of women are. "There are more women doing more things than ever before, and nobody knows or thinks it's special," Hurlburt said. Hurlburt, who also wrote speeches for former secretaries of state Madeleine Albright and Warren Christopher, spoke about how women in politics have been stereotyped. Her speech, titled "Women of the West Wing: Politics, Popular Culture and Women at the Edge of the 21st Century," drew a large crowd Monday afternoon in the Student Center.

Women usually fall into three different roles in politics, Hurlburt said. Hurlburt said the first type of women is from the second feminist movement like Condoleezza Rice and Janet Reno. Typically, Hurlburt said, these women wear business suits with little flair and are non-married, intimidating women. The second type is "den mothers," Hurlburt said. These women, who include Albright and former President Bush adviser-in-chief Karen Hughes, are the caregivers in the office. Hurlburt described these women as the ones who watch over the men and pick up the pieces when men break something.

Hurlburt said while in the White House, she fell into this category. She was the only woman in her office, and when she would leave on business trips, the office would almost always fall apart. Her boss did not talk to the other men, Hurlburt said, because they all relied on her to maintain interoffice communication. She said the women typically wore middle-of-the-road attire that was neither flashy nor conservative.

Hurlburt referred to the third set of women as the "girlie-girls" and "bad girls" of politics. Hurlburt said these women often include Anna-Marie Stewart, a blogger in Washington, and Ann Coulter, a right-wing political columnist. Hurlburt said these women wear short skirts and use their sex appeal to get their way into the political world. Mary McGuire, associate professor in the History Department, said women like Condoleezza Rice are helping women break out of these supporting roles, but to release women from these positions is going to require more education. Along with additional education, McGuire said women also must be more involved in politics.

"We still have a long way to go in terms of whether or not we as a country are ready to see women lead a country and not just act in supporting roles," McGuire said. "We need to see more women participating in local government." Over the past 30 years, women have been more involved in other aspects of society such as print media and the law, McGuire said. In 1973, less than 5 percent of law school students were women, McGuire said. Nowadays, women make up nearly 50 percent of students in law schools across the nation. "Society is changing for the better, and I hope it keeps going," McGuire said.