Renu Englehart: The reality of politics in Rhode Island is that women are unfairly targeted and without good reason

"...male politicians are largely insulated and unaware of the criticism that their female counterparts endure, even among those male politicians who are progressive or Democratic."

I am a married woman of color, a mom of three adult sons, and a town councilor for the Town of East Greenwich. During the seven years I have been on the town council, I have come to expect some things, like all women in politics do.

I have learned that what a woman says in a professional political setting in Rhode Island will never be taken as seriously as her male counterparts. A female politician will be criticised more harshly and often than her male counterparts by conservatives, especially conservative males. I have learned that if you are of color (or of an ethnic background that’s not Western European), anytime you bring up or refer to your background, you are being divisive and racist. I have learned that change is hard, and for some people, the only good times were those 40 or 50 years ago, regardless of economics or how others were treated back in the “good old days.”

The reality of politics in Rhode Island and probably other New England states is that women are unfairly targeted and without good reason. The other female councilor in East Greenwich, Caryn Corenthal, and I have noticed that even when the Town Council votes unanimously, the women will be criticised more than the men. Two of our female school committee members had to request police help with a local conservative resident over relentless harassment. This is true of our General Assembly representatives as well. The amount of criticism East Greenwich’s female senator and representative to the General Assembly endure is far more than our male representative even when he votes exactly the same. Most of this criticism is by conservatives, both male and female, but by far more male conservatives. Male conservatives will criticize your appearance, your age, the way you dress, and your weight. To be fair, they may also criticize some male politicians, but not nearly as often as they cite a female politician’s appearance, etc. And if that politician is of color, all bets are off. If you express empathy for one group of people over another, your ethnicity and your patriotism are called into question, even if there’s no real reason for it.

What’s been most interesting as a female politician is that male politicians are largely insulated and unaware of the criticism that their female counterparts endure, even among those male politicians who are progressive or Democratic. Even if they are aware, they often cannot understand how often it occurs or how completely petty it is. Look at a well-known female senator from Providence who responded to her critics by twerking. She took an inordinate amount of criticism for a social media post that did not require it. She used it to her advantage, but I did not see many male colleagues defend her, if any. Even though she did nothing wrong, the criticism was not about her work. Local conservatives and the State Republican party used her social media to scaremonger and point out the “otherness” of the senator. That was in 2022 - since then, it hasn’t changed. And in the new Trump term, it seems only to get more strident.

As a parent of adult sons who have a white father and a brown mother, I expect my sons to notice and stand up for women and any other targeted group of persons in their lives. I expect them to do better and with respect, even if they disagree with their opponent. As I’ve aged, I am less affected by the stupidity of certain groups, but that doesn’t mean I don’t notice them. I wonder why we women don’t expect more from the men in our lives. As a country, we haven’t even ratified the Equal Rights Amendment, and we wonder why Roe was repealed. We cannot pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, and we wonder why Republicans are turning back civil rights for everyone who is not a white heterosexual male. Our current group of male politicians in Rhode Island, locally and in the General Assembly, need to stand up for women now, and also older people, persons with disabilities, people of color, LGBTQ+, veterans, children, etc. This new period of politics demands it. Women do an inordinate amount of the heavy lifting in politics and elsewhere. Why are our local male counterparts not doing the same?