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Alison Skirtboston

Skirt! Boston editor

Skirt! is evidence that the universe is paying attention: I spent the last six years at mach speed, whether finishing college (Emerson) while writing full time for Boston Globe West (2001-2004) or editing the Boston Parents’ Paper during the day while holding down the steady gig writing for Globe ...

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I Like Sarah Palin

alison, editor

Does that shock you? Were you expecting another tirade about her tokenism and lack of feminine values (hey, did I coin a new phrase?)?

Sure, she somehow believes that abstinence is appropriate birth control for hormone-crazed teenagers, she doesn’t support a woman’s right to choose, and she’s playing second fiddle to a guy (John McCain) who chose her for her body parts other than her brain, but I think she’s kind of cool.

She fishes, she’s got an interesting past (beauty queen?? I’d like to hear the behind-the-scenes stories from the Miss Wasila pageant!), she’s got a temper (trying to get her State Trooper brother-in-law fired) and she rose to become first female governor of a decidedly testosterone-fueled state, Alaska. Face it, she rocks.

And exaggerating her experience while downplaying the truth of some of her political decisions? That’s just part of playing in the same arena as the boys. Why should a woman be held to a higher standard than her opponents just because they are anatomically different?

 Both are working women, so let’s put that set of criticisms aside.

As women, we have to separate our knee-jerk reactions from the facts. The facts are that life is complicated, that teenaged daughters get pregnant sometimes even in the nicest families (no fewer than 5 of my friends from high school got pregnant and kept their babies; I don’t know how many opted out of their pregnancies). But above all – hope this doesn’t shock you – mothers work.

Why are so many women reduced to shrill old biddies when it comes to Sarah Palin? How do you think Hillary Rodham Clinton gained the experience she claimed in her presidential bid, by staying home and knitting mittens for Chelsea? No, in fact, Hillary was a pretty high-powered attorney, a career that’s among the most difficult for mothers to juggle.

I haven’t heard much about Sarah Palin’s husband, or others in her support system, but I’d like to. I think it would be instructive for the rest of us to understand how she rose to her position. The most successful working women I’ve met – including the CEO of Emerson Hospital – are honest about their dependence on others when it comes to the compromises they make to have both a career and a family. And that in itself shouldn’t be a reason to criticize her.

We like to complain that there are few women in politics, but we don’t like the reality of the sacrifices that are required to be a successful female politician. We like to call certain women role models, but we want to pick apart their successes and drain their true value at the same time.

So, dislike her politics, but don’t diss the woman. Come November, this hockey mom may create the deepest fracture yet in the almighty glass ceiling of Washington DC.