Female Candidates Have Tougher Time: Steinem

The day after a heckler held up a sign reading "Iron My Shirt" at a Hillary Clinton rally, Gloria Steinem got out the big guns in today's New York Times. Asserting that “gender is probably the most restricting force in American life,” she argues that a woman with Barack Obama’s biography wouldn’t have a glimmer of hope in this election.

“There is still no ‘right’ way to be a woman in public power without being considered a you-know-what,” Steinem says. On Slate’s XX Factor blog, Meghan O’Rourke applauds Steinem for pointing out today’s sexism “is latent and almost unconscious.” But Melinda Henneberger says the column gave her “whiplash,” and Dahlia Lithwick argues that Obama has overcome labels, while Clinton’s become a robot. (More Hillary Clinton stories.)