If you've ever seen a female politician in action, you know how many gender double standards still pervade our political system. But although most adults spot these double standards every day, what do kids think of sexism in politics — particularly the media's gender stereotyping of female poltical candidates? That's what SheKnows Media's latest #HatchKids video for their Equal Coverage campaign tackles — and it turns out that kids are often more astute than most of us grownups realize. Anyone else think we could stand to learn a lesson or two from these young'uns?
The video features SheKnows' "Hatch Kids" in a workshop called Women In Politics, where they were given an activity meant to highlight how the media treats women who are running for President differently from the male candidates. Specifically, the Hatch Kids looked at how Hillary Clinton and Jeb Bush are talked about differently by news outlets. "As you’ll see, their insights align with the pop culture phenomenon of the #AskHerMore campaign founded by Hollywood’s most influential women," SheKnows Media Senior PR Manager Lauren Millea told Bustle via email.
They start the workshop by showing the kids a picture of Hillary Clinton and informing them that she is running for President. Then, they ask the kids to describe her based off her of a photo they showed them of her speaking. "She's strong, she's confident," one child says. "She looks like a boss," says another. (Can I get a hell yes on that?)
They then show them a photo of Jeb Bush. They ask them to then describe him, with answers including, "I think he really knows what he's doing," and, "He knows what he wants and he wants to get it done quickly."
Clearly, these kids haven't yet been indoctrinated by the media's twisted double standard that discusses female political candidates' appearance and sex appeal before all else. But, they're about to get a taste of this dose of sexism, as the moderator then reads some headlines written about both Clinton and Bush and asks the kids to tell him who they think the headline was about.
The first headline they read was "looks like a toothless hillbilly," and the kids immediately thought they were referencing Bush without hesitation. When the moderator reveals they were talking about Hillary, the kids were shocked. But then, they soon got the picture and when the next headline was read about someone looking "frazzled and frumpy," one of the girls instantly guessed Hillary Clinton — which, of course, was correct. Another added, "It's super unfair, but it's Hillary," which I couldn't agree more with. This pattern kept repeating itself until it became clear that when the media is discussing appearance, they're talking about Hillary, and when they're talking about an actual political issue, they're referencing Jeb.
So now that they've spotted this whole sexism in the media thing, what do the kids actually think about it? They're wise beyond their years. Check out their brilliant answers in the full video below — you won't want to miss them:
Images: SheKnows Media/YouTube (2)
