Continuing my theme that each of the presidential candidates brings a personal issue with them, we have this article on Hillary Clinton and the "gender wars".

The article does not explicitly say gender is the reason so many people hate Hillary but it does bring the issue up as a possible culprit. In my own anecdotal experience, people who hate hillary almost never have an actual reason or any facts. Most of them "arent really sure". They "just dont like her".

The generational differences on woman's rights is an interesting topic, albeit one I dont know much about. In general though, the past twenty years have been very peaceful and prosperous in our country. Kids today just have not idea what life was like in the 70's or 60's or 50's - whether you are talking about the black experience, the immigrant experience, the female experience or the gay experience. Young people today have benefited from the good times and they are generally more open-minded and care less about those issues.

But unless you think woman should make 80-cents on the dollar compared with men, they still are issues. After all, "we love women" -- just not women like Hillary Clinton.

At the Barricades In the Gender Wars

Clinton's women supporters fear her bid has unleashed a sexist backlash

By JONATHAN KAUFMAN and CAROL HYMOWITZ

March 29, 2008

Wall Street Journal

When Sen. Clinton started her presidential campaign more than a year ago, she said she wanted to shatter the ultimate glass ceiling. But many of her supporters see something troubling in the sometimes bitter resistance to her campaign and the looming possibility of her defeat: a seeming backlash against the opportunities women have gained.

But her campaign has also prompted slurs and inflammatory language that many women thought had been banished from public discourse.

The concern among some women about sexism comes amid signs that women's progress in the workplace has stalled or even regressed. In 2007, women earned median weekly wages of 80.2 cents for every dollar earned by men, down from 80.8 cents in 2006 and 81 cents in 2005, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistic.

At the nation's largest 500 companies, women account for 50% of managers, but hold just 15.4% of senior executive jobs, down from 16.4% in 2005, according to a survey by Catalyst, the New York research firm and women's advocacy group. Almost three-quarters of these senior women are in jobs that rarely lead to the corner office. The number of senior women in "line" jobs that involve running a business, with responsibility for profits and losses, dropped to 27.5% last year from 29% in 2005, according to Catalyst.

Heather Arnet, a Clinton supporter who runs a Pittsburgh organization that lobbies for more women on public commissions and corporate boards, recently surveyed the Internet and found more than 50 anti-Hillary Clinton sites on Facebook. One of them, entitled "Hillary Clinton Stop Running for President and Make Me a Sandwich," had more than 38,000 members.

"What if one of these 38,000 guys is someone you, as a woman, have to go to and negotiate a raise?" she asks.

Here in Pittsburgh and surrounding blue-collar areas, Sen. Clinton's run is stirring discussion among women about sexism in politics and in the workplace. The pay gap between male and female professionals in the Pittsburgh area exceeds the national average across most industries and occupations, according to a new University of Pittsburgh study. Women managers earned just 58.3% of what male managers made, and 89.5% of what women managers around the country made, according to the 2000 U.S. Census. In the political arena, Pennsylvania ranks 45th among states in number of female officeholders.

"The sexism aimed at Hillary is astounding me," she says. "We want to let our daughters know that we can be anything. It's a lie. If even Hillary Clinton can't make it, what chance do we have?"

Jean Yarnal, who has worked in local government for 41 years, says she was unnerved recently when a man she knew came into her office and asked for help with a zoning issue. When talk turned to politics, she says, he denounced Sen. Clinton as a "lesbian" and used several slurs. Ms. Yarnal says she didn't respond, but thought to herself, "That's the last time I do you a favor."

"It's like the feelings against women are getting stronger," says Ms. Yarnal. "It's like men are saying, 'We want to put you women in your place -- watch out, don't go too fast.' "

Charles McCollester, a professor of industrial relations at Indiana University of Pennsylvania who works with union members, says he is ready for a woman president, "just not this woman." He supports Sen. Obama. "Several of my really close female friends feel this is unleashing some kind of antiwoman sentiment. But I don't see it. We love women. I just never cared much for Hillary. She has set out to become as male as all the rest of the boys."

Some women in town say they don't bring up politics at work. "The consensus in my office is that women are too emotional and won't make a good president," says Terri George, a paralegal in a law office.

Some young women who support Sen. Obama -- sometimes to the chagrin of their pro-Hillary mothers -- say they too are troubled by the gender gap in the workplace. But many say they don't feel comfortable being called "feminists," and that they look to different role models than Sen. Clinton.

"It isn't easy being a woman in academia," says Amanda Moniz, a 36-year-old Ph.D. candidate in history at the University of Michigan. "I want a woman candidate who is strong, but also feminine, and who doesn't feel she has to be tougher than men to succeed," she says. "Although Hillary has achieved a lot on her own, she wouldn't be where she was if not for her husband -- and that isn't an inspiring lesson."

Alexa Steinberg, 25, a graduate student at the University of New Hampshire, says she recognizes "that women only make 78 cents for every male dollar, and there are still hurdles for women that I'll face." She says she thinks it's only a matter of time before she'll be supporting a female candidate for U.S. president -- but it won't be Sen. Clinton. "Politically and personally, she's trying to take on the male persona, and isn't a woman in the way I want a woman candidate to be," she says.