Sarah Steelman’s Political Experience Isn’t a Family Matter
An article in yesterday’s St. Louis Post-Dispatch about Missouri Senate candidate Sarah Steelman insinuated that her husband’s handiwork fueled her political career. Despite having her own lengthy political resume, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch wrote that “much of Steelman’s life has revolved around politics and family.” This might have been a fair assertion if it had not been followed with her husband’s political biography instead of her own. After first devoting a paragraph to David Steelman’s political background, the article finally mentioned that Steelman “jumped into the political arena with a successful bid for the state Senate in 1998.”
A similar article in the Kansas City Star last Thursday also spotlighted her husband’s career, emphasizing that Steelman’s husband is “a former GOP state representative,” and only afterwards asserted that “in 1998, Steelman entered politics herself,” as if her husband’s time in office was a prerequisite for her successful political debut. Worst of all was that Steelman has had to “[brush] off suggestions that her husband is somehow behind her political career.”
It’s not as if Steelman herself is touting her husband’s political background. The biography on her website talks about her 14 years of political experience, not her husband’s career. Steelman was first elected as a Missouri state Senator in 1998 and 2002, and later served as Missouri Treasurer from 2004-2008. While her biography mentions that she “lives in Rolla, Missouri with her husband David,” it does not say that her husband managed or directed her career. Why, after 14 years of political experience and achievement, are Steelman’s accomplishments being attributed to her husband?
Steelman herself asserted that suggestions about her husband’s involvement in her campaign are “sexist,” and “flat-out-wrong.”
Name It. Change It. could not agree more. Asking if a spouse is responsible for her political success is just one more way to take credit away from a woman’s accomplishments. When looking for the source of a candidate’s success, the media should look no further than the candidate herself.
Published by Kate McCarthy on 07/09/2012