Pelosi as Trailblazer

Sara Mosle writes that Nancy Pelosi stands out relative to other “First Women Xs”:

She isn’t just the second in line of presidential succession, following Vice President Biden (and thus the most powerful woman in American history). She’s a mother of five (yes, count ‘em, five) kids, a grandmother of seven, and a church-going Catholic, who is still married to her college sweetheart—in many ways the very embodiment of family values. But while older than Hillary, she appears to have suffered none of the battle scars of early feminism and is completely comfortable and confident in her own skin. In the past, the trailblazing achievements of feminist icons often seemed to exact readily visible costs—in the form of an incoherent personal style or a messy/nonexistent love life or family life. (Yes, there are the women of the Supreme Court, but their femininity is cloaked by the burqa of their black robes.) But Pelosi makes combining family, beauty, brains, and political brawn look easy.

I’m not 100 percent on board with that analysis, if only because a lot of the “in her own skin” narratives around Hillary Clinton strike me as largely media-generated. Who wouldn’t be uncomfortable in their own skin if the “authenticity” of their every move was subjected to the kind of absurd scrutiny that she got.

But this leads in to what’s always struck me about Pelosi, namely the lack of attention to the whole “First Woman Speaker” thing. This seemed especially odd to me since her ascension to the Speakership was followed almost immediately by the period of intense speculation over whether or not Clinton would become the first woman president and it was clear over the course of the campaign that people were very interested in the subject of gender and presidential politics. The Speakership, of course, isn’t nearly as important an office as the Presidency. But it is very important. The stronger leadership tools available in the House mean that Pelosi is a more influential figure than Harry Reid or any other Senator. Indeed, I think it’s fair to say she’s the most politically powerful woman in American history and it’s gone a bit oddly un-remarked-upon.

What’s more, a slender majority of voters are women whereas a very large number of members of Congress are men, so in a sense ascending the House leadership is a trickier feat.