Steinem: Men Regress to Childhood When They See ‘a Powerful Woman’ Like Hillary

‘—Because the last time they saw a really powerful woman, they were eight. So they behaved like eight’

STEPHANOPOULOS: “And in THIS WEEK’S Sunday Spotlight, Gloria Steinem. The women’s rights pioneer has just released her first book in more than 20 years, “My Life on the Road.” And she sat down with our own pathbreaker, Cokie Roberts, for a look back at 50 years of change in feminism and journalism.”
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: “Gloria Steinem, loved and hated by millions, grew up in a world modern Americans wouldn’t recognize. Women were legally denied jobs and credit and shut out of prominent positions. But instead of accepting that world, she led a movement to change it.”
STEINEM: “I thought that I absolutely had to get married and have children and lead my husband’s life. And courtesy of all the women who were speaking out about different kinds of lives, I realized I was actually happy. And not everybody has to live the same way.”
ROBERTS: “Well, you now see people who are still having those — those kinds of arguments. I mean does it wear you out to see what people call the mommy wars?”
STEINEM: “It does drive me crazy, because what about daddies?”
ROBERTS: “There are daddies, yes. Right. And that’s particularly true in the political world. So a female candidate is asked who’s going to take care of the children and a male candidate is never ever asked that question.”
STEINEM: “Yes, absolutely. And a male candidate is applauded for considering the family and the — what’s going to happen to, you know, deciding whether to run for the Senate or president or something. If a woman did the same thing, she is often kind of disqualified by that.”
ROBERTS:” And we’re seeing it right now. Paul Ryan saying, as a condition of taking the speakership, that he needed to spend time with his family. And — and everybody said, oh, isn’t that sweet?”
STEINEM: “Yes, right. I recognize that as progress.”
ROBERTS: “So though much has changed, much has not.”
(voice-over): What about the biggest possible change, a woman president? Steinem endorsed Hillary Clinton in 2008, but didn’t think the country was ready for a female commander-in-chief.”
STEINEM: “What made me feel that way was actually seeing big grownup friends of ours on — guys in the media, who are perfectly serious people, saying things like, about Hillary Clinton, I cross my legs whenever I see her, she reminds me of my first wife standing outside alimony court. Looking at a powerful woman made them feel they had been regressed to childhood, because the last time they saw a really powerful woman, they were eight. So they behaved like eight.”
ROBERTS: “So do you think 2016, the country is ready for a woman commander-in-chief?”
STEINEM: “Yes, I — I do. I think it’s going to be hell.”
ROBERTS (voice-over): “But it’s a challenge Gloria Steinem is ready to take on for her candidate, as she’s taken on so many others for the women who’ve come after her. I asked if she thought young women understood what it took to make it possible for them to have the choices they now do.”
STEINEM: “I wouldn’t demand gratitude.”
ROBERTS: “Well, I would like a little, but the—“
STEINEM: “Well, I think it’s really helpful, I mean I — to know what happened in the past. It helps you.”
ROBERTS: “What’s ahead?”
STEINEM: “That’s a great question, because people are asking me these days, what are you most proud of and things like that? And I always say I haven’t done it yet.”
ROBERTS: “Right.”
STEINEM: “I live in the future, you know.”

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