Warren Reflects On Sexism In Race After Dropping Out
WHITFIELD: All right. Welcome back. Six women made history this year as they fought to become the nation's first female president. But the so-called Pink Wave has ended with one woman remaining Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard is still in the race even though she has only two pledged delegates and has not qualified for the next debate On Thursday, when Senator Elizabeth Warren called it quits. She spoke candidly about sexism.</s>SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D-MA): Gender in this race, you know that is the trap question for everyone. If you say, yes, there was sexism in this race, everyone says whiner. And if you say, no, there was no sexism, about a bazillion women think, what planet do you live on.</s>WHITFIELD: Here to talk more, Michelle Cottle, of "The New York Times" editorial board. Michelle, good to see you. Those are powerful words coming from Elizabeth Warren. You could hear the defeat in her voice as well. So that she is out, five other women who were in, all together now that were in, are now out of the six in totality at the start. Does this say that America still is just not ready for a female president?</s>MICHELLE COTTLE, EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBER, "NEW YORK TIMES": Not quite. I think America is ready. And you know, people point out all the time, Hillary Clinton won the popular vote last time around. But it is still enough novelty that it requires special circumstances. Just like electing Barack Obama kind of cooked the perfect candidate, it will take a very special circumstance and the right candidate for women to clear the last hurdles of gender bias that absolutely still plague them.</s>WHITFIELD: In your opinion piece in "New York Times," you write, "This is one of the vexing realities that plague highly accomplished female candidates like Ms. Warren or Hillary Clinton, women whose resumes outstrip those of many of their male rivals. They have been told all their lives they have to outwork and outperform the men in order to be taken seriously, only to discover that it's not enough." What is the message to little girls? You heard Senator Warren say she had a message for little girls, to continue to think big. But when you see defeats like this, spelled out in your opinion piece, very accomplished women, women with amazing credentials, and they still are not able to fully clench the victory.</s>COTTLE: Exactly. I've heard from readers that have daughters and they're very upset because what kind of message does this send to people's daughters. I think you have to look at the bright side on some level, which is, when I was coming up, women didn't even think about running. And in 2016 you had the first nominee, but there still a lot of candidates that had run. This time we had more, they were taken seriously. It is kind of a baby steps situation. That said, it is beyond time. It is frustrating. A lot of people don't recognize some of their own unconscious gender bias, if you talk about the number of people that would say that Elizabeth Warren is too strident, too inflexible, too this, too that. My only response to that is, I'm sorry, Bernie Sanders? Do we have a candidate out there that's been more strident than shouty?</s>WHITFIELD: One word that was thrown out for Elizabeth Warren is crazy, she scares me.</s>COTTLE: She made a lot of people nervous because they said she was too extreme. Again, not compared to a lot of the other guys out there who are running. Also, one thing this time around, people were extremely concerned about electability, and there was a lot of debate whether a woman candidate was risky. You can say oh, no, why would that matter. But if you look at all of the research and look at a lot of polls, gender plays a big role how people view electability and they weren't willing to take a risk. That goes for men and women. This is not just sexist men clinging to traditional values or their own prerogatives, women face the same anxiety about oh, is my neighbor ready to elect a woman, will this be too risky, that sort of thing.</s>WHITFIELD: In all due respect to Tulsi Gabbard, who is still in the race, if it is down to a two-man race between Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden, does their electability gain stock by selecting perhaps a woman to be a vice president, a running mate?</s>COTTLE: I think it is a disgrace if a woman doesn't wind up on the ticket. We're talking here about the Democratic Party. This is supposed to be the party of progress and the future and diversity. And there are a lot of strong women options out there that would be great balance on the ticket. So I think that would be a good step forward. People talk about lack of a -- you need women Senators. A woman vice-presidential candidate would be a big step forward as well and would add a sense of enthusiasm. Especially if Biden winds up the nominee, the wrap on him is he is not generating enough excitement, enthusiasm. Certainly having a younger, vibrant female vice-presidential candidate would help with that.</s>WHITFIELD: Perhaps enthusiasm and acknowledgment, right, acknowledgement --</s>COTTLE: Yes.</s>WHITFIELD: -- especially since you had historically six women running.</s>COTTLE: It would help with a lot of frustration and disappointment.</s>WHITFIELD: Yes. All right, Michelle Cottle, we'll leave it there for now. Thank you so much.</s>COTTLE: Thanks.</s>WHITFIELD: Coming up, L.A. Lakers forward, Lebron James, says he won't play without fans in the stadium but that could be the reality for the NBA as fears over coronavirus continues to grow. The latest actions the league is taking to protect both the players and fans.