In Politics, Who Really Holds the Gender Card?

If you had a magical card that earned you, on average, 77 cents to the male dollar, or guaranteed you a lifetime battle over reproductive rights, or historically made it impossible for you to assume the highest executive office in the United States, of course you'd play it, right?

The "woman card" has long been the political dog-whistle from conservatives regarding Hillary Clinton, the first female presidential nominee of a major political party, whose status as a woman is apparently not something voters are supposed to recognize, let alone care about. Charges of Clinton's "playing the woman card" have permeated this election cycle, from last April when she first announced her candidacy, to Monday night when she decimated the GOP candidate for his degrading and misogynist rhetoric, among other things.

Before Trump's abysmal performance at Hofstra University Monday night, his surrogates spent the week lowering expectations for their bloviating demagogue of a nominee, and warning voters that Clinton would play the woman card and ask voters to elect her just because of her gender. And during the closing moments of the debate, when Clinton finally targeted Trump for his rich history of blatant sexism, some of his minions immediately pounced, alleging the mere mention of Trump's derogatory language is proof she played her "winning" hand.

If you define the woman card as pointing out (accurately) that there has never been a woman this close to the presidency, or alluding to the notion that men are typically less concerned with women’s issues than say, women, you likely agree with the Trump campaign’s assessment; that Clinton "played the woman card” at the debate, and has throughout the campaign. She's touted the historic nature of her nomination, her impressive resume on issues involving women’s and children's rights, and her disgust over Trump's despicable anti-woman rhetoric. "If that's playing the woman's card, deal me in," she has said.

But considering the woman card did not win Clinton the Oval Office when she ran against Barack Obama in 2008, it’s difficult to determine what exactly the Trump campaign believes Clinton gains from it. And in fact, if you look over the course of this campaign, the gender card isn’t even really Clinton’s to play.

”You know the only thing she’s got is the woman card,” Trump said in April, insisting the ever-elusive woman card is “weak” in Clinton’s hands. “If she were a man and she was the way she is she would get virtually no votes,” he added.

It’s not certain what Trump mean when he refers to the “way she is.” Pragmatic? Hardworking? Wears a mean pant suit? His implication, I assume, is that all things equal, a man who carries himself the way Clinton carries herself would have a difficult time getting elected president of the United States.

Setting aside the ludicrous suggestion that it’s easier for a woman to be elected president, it's important to note that a nominee referencing her gender is not the same as saying, “vote for me because I’m a woman” (something Clinton has never said). More importantly, saying somone is playing the woman card is nothing more than a rhetorical device, similar to saying someone is “playing the race card,” an accusation used by those who seek to devalue the accomplishments of women and people of color by insisting that any reference to race or gender is a callous, cynical attempt to capitalize on said status. As if belonging to a historically disenfranchised group is some trump card that obliterates the power of the white male ruling class.

“When I pass the gate of the celestials and good Peter asks me where I wish to sit, I will say, Anywhere so that I am neither a negro nor a woman," suffragette Elizabeth Cady Stanton once wrote. "Confer on me, great angel, the glory of white manhood, so that henceforth I may feel unlimited freedom."

Over a century later, Stanton’s plea is still relevant in today’s political climate. For all the incredible strides women and people of color have made in public office over the past 200 years, there is still an entire political party devoted to playing white male identity politics in 2016. And it's unsurprising that the same person who spent the last five years attempting to delegitimize the first black president also hopes to reduce the potential of the first female president by accusing her of “playing the woman card.”

The impact of a first female presidential candidate of a major party really can’t be overstated. Even Carly Fiorina, who earlier this year posited that Clinton is “going to play that gender card all day long” (after Fiorina herself was the target of Trump’s sexist default setting), once said as a woman she "takes great pride in the fact that Hillary Clinton ran for president.”

"Bold women, women in power are characterized, scrutinized differently than their male counterparts are,” Fiorina said in 2008.

Since Clinton's days as first lady when commentators derided her for sarcastically proclaiming she “could have stayed home and baked cookies and had teas” instead of pursuing her career, the Democratic nominee's actions have been scrutinized through gendered lenses. And while Trump can flaunt his masculinity and boast about his penis size, any subtle or overt reference to Clinton’s actual existence as a female is met with marked disdain because she's "playing the woman card."

And that, my friends, is the gendered double standard of American politics. Yours free, with a woman card.