Democratic Activist Katherine Adam Collaborates on Book with Noted Social Critic

Tell us what this book is all about and why it is important for the 2008 election cycle?

The book is a reexamination of moral politics through the lens of gender. We show that a rising feminized majority—made up of mostly women, but also millions of men—will be the defining element in this election. Like the evangelicals, feminized voters are values voters, only their values tend to be progressive and inclusive. Women’s history of oppression, combined with their fights for liberation, have created what we term feminized values. These include empathy, cooperation, and a preference for non-violent solutions to conflicts. Gender gap data show that women form political opinions with these values in mind. In contrast, men’s history of political and economic dominance socialize men into a system of masculinized values, including aggression and individualism.

It’s important to understand that gendered values are not embedded in a person’s DNA. One’s values, including values linked to gender, are open to variance and change. Men can adopt feminized values, and millions have.

Women’s increasing progressivism won’t lead to a battle of the sexes showdown. In fact, millions of men are following the feminized progressive example, holding opinions on issues that match those held by a majority of women. This points to the reason Obama or Clinton needs to pay close attention to gendered values: for the first time, feminized values—which are progressive, community-minded, and often closely aligned with Democratic Party policy—are now held by a majority of Americans.

While gender gaps still exist, a large enough minority of men support feminized principles to make them majoritarian. We find these values reflected in issue after issue, in poll after poll. From ending the Iraq War to funding stem cell research, from raising the minimum wage to adopting government-sponsored universal healthcare, the feminized position is the majoritarian position—which means it is the winning position.

This election seems a bit unique in that we have a minority and a woman vying for the Democratic nomination. Both Barak Obama and Hillary Clinton are attractive to women voters, so how does that impact this year’s political scene?