In a recent New York Magazine article, Rebecca Traister contends that “whatever your feelings about [Hillary] Clinton, this election raises important questions about how we define leadership in this country, [and] how we feel about women who try to claim it.” Indeed, this moment requires us to ask not only how we define leadership but also what leaders sound like, what rhetorical gestures we expect them to make, and how those conceptions are gendered. As a teacher and scholar of women’s rhetorics, I view Hillary Clinton’s candidacy as a significant juncture that is built upon a long history of women seeking to enter the public sphere—a sphere that has too often squelched women’s voices and civic participation.
While Aristotle’s curt definition of rhetoric is the “discovery of the available means of persuasion,” feminist scholars Joy Ritchie and Kate Ronald reveal his presumption that the rhetor has a right to speak in the first place. They remind us that from ancient Greece to the present moment, “Women must first invent a way to speak in the context of being silenced and rendered invisible as persons.”
Hillary is hardly an invisible figure in the political scene, of course. But that doesn’t mean she speaks as an unencumbered agent or that she doesn’t face copious bids to silence and diminish her—and to limit her available means of persuasion. Many of her critics argue that she simply doesn’t possess the allure or magnetism that we expect presidential candidates to deliver. She has said it herself: “I am not a natural politician, in case you haven’t noticed, like my husband or President Obama.” This, of course, implies that there exists a natural politician, and that he (yes, he) is defined by a particular version of rhetorical prowess and passion.
Some say Hillary Clinton lacks these characteristics. I am more interested in considering what “available means” she is denied and why. While Bernie Sanders—and even Donald Trump—are cheered for their loud proclamations and impassioned speeches, Hillary is roundly criticized by the media for raising her voice. Bob Woodward, for instance, said Clinton could increase her appeal to young voters if she would just “get off this screaming stuff.” Morning host Joe Scarborough characterized her voice as “always up here [gesturing above his head]” and “just not natural.” This begs the question, is it “unnatural” to hear a woman raising her voice, or is it “unnatural” to hear the voice of a woman presidential candidate in the first place? If we use this moment well, we’ll continue to press on whether those "natural" conceptions of good politicians and good leaders are, in fact, a mask for upholding masculine traits and masculine bodies.
But this moment gives us another opportunity. We can use the moment to look closely at which “available means” Hillary has prudently deployed to secure the nomination. Recently, media analysts have called attention to her able use of rhetorical practices not typically associated with “good men speaking well”: listening carefully, seeking common ground, and building coalitions (Klein 2016; Traister 2016). Ezra Klein calls this a more “traditionally female” approach to leadership.
I, however, call it a feminist approach, one that views listening as an active practice, not a sign of weakness, that is necessary for political action; one that insists that real change is driven by collaborative efforts, not individual command; and one that values difference enough to finds ways to work with, not against, it. I would like to see this ethic incorporated in our societal definition of good leadership and rhetorical ability. In a moment when the two major parties are deeply divided, when race relations are deadly, and when expressions of certainty are ubiquitous, we can learn a great deal from feminist modes of leadership—if, of course, we are willing to listen.
Shari J. Stenberg is professor of English at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. Her book Repurposing Composition: Feminist Interventions for a Neoliberal Age was published by USUP in 2015. She is also the author of Composition Studies through a Feminist Lens and Professing and Pedagogy: Learning the Teaching of English.
Works Cited
- Klein, Ezra. “It’s Time to Admit Hillary Clinton Is an Extraordinary Politician.” Vox.com. June 7, 2016. Vox Media, Inc. Accessed July 20, 2016.
- Ritchie, Joy, and Kate Ronald, eds. Available Means: An Anthology of Women’s Rhetoric(s). Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2001.
- Traister, Rebecca. “Hillary Clinton vs. Herself.” NYMag.com. May 30, 2016. New York Media, LLC. Accessed July 20, 2016.
