Iron my shirt - a commentary

I'm usually the last one to comment on politics but...in a newsclip the other day, I couldn't help but think about the optics of a placard being waved at one of Hilary Clinton's rallies the other day. The placard read "Iron my shirt". Its meaning was clear. "Hey, woman, get back in the kitchen where you belong." Yeah, get back to your subservient role.

Of course, those days are long gone but the misogynist attitude of that placard-holder (of course, a man) was loud and clear. Get out of politics, woman! Well buddy, I hate to tell you but those days have been gone for eons. What cave have you been living in? Today's women are entering politics, not to be foot soldiers but to shoot for the highest positions, and if your type thinks different, well, you better stay home and learn to iron your own darn shirts!

I couldn't help but wonder about the optics and the commentators' reactions if that same guy with his same message had stood up in one of Barack Obama's rallies. He probably would have been pilloried for a racist message because it would have inferred "Hey, black man, get back to ironing the master's shirts." Yeah, get back to your subservient role. Both racism and sexism are on par in my opinion.

Ironic isn't it that such a sexist placard merely garnered a few raised eyebrows amongst commentators yet its negativity has had a positive effect on Ms Clinton's campaign. It was akin to waving a red flag in front of not just one bull but a sea of bulls...the female voters who may have been undecided. And the results are now in.

Cynic that I am, it makes me wonder: could Ms Clinton's campaigners been slick enough to have placed that negative placard to achieve such a positive reaction? It's not beyond the realm of possibility even though it flies in the face of all that is honourable and right.

What's easier to believe: that campaign leaders are smart enough to plant such a placard to reap the positive after-shock or that there are still such men out there who really do believe a woman's hand doesn't belong at the helm of power but on the handle of an iron? Somehow that we can consider both scenarios is a sad commentary of our times.