Watch: Hillary Clinton Has Faced 40 Years of Sexism - and That's Not Even the Worst Part
After decades in the public eye, Hillary Clinton has been asked some critical questions that would be unthinkable if asked of her male counterparts. Sexist scrutiny is, sadly, expected when it comes to first ladies; but it is tiring and frowned upon when aimed at a female secretary of state, presidential candidate or influential lawyer.
"One gets the impression that... you're really not all that interested possibly in state dinners and teas and garden parties," Jack Hill asked a 32-year-old Hillary Clinton in 1979, just after Bill Clinton won the Arkansas gubernatorial election.
Fast-forward 14 years.
"Millions of other people see you as a very threatening person. Why do you think you are such a lightning rod?" Katie Couric asked Hillary Clinton in 1993, early on in her days as a first lady.
"What about the comparisons to Lady Macbeth—do you think it's because you're a powerful woman? Why do you think... where does that come from?" Couric said.
The wariness continued throughout Bill Clinton's presidency.
“Do you think the American people are ready yet to have a first lady who has strong opinions and an agenda?” Barbara Walters asked Clinton in 1996.
And then, of course, her own presidential campaigns have brought out the critics.
"What can you say to the voters of New Hampshire on this stage tonight, who see your resume and like it, but are hesitating on the likability issue?" she was asked in 2008, and many times in the past year.
Meanwhile, "foreign leaders tried to decode what her hairstyles meant—one saying, 'if it's pulled back, get ready for bad news,'" Diane Sawyer said of Hillary in 2015.
The worst part is the realization that so much of the sexism in the video below is coming from other women.
Watch:
