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Gender plays role : Yes.
Gender dominates chancellor race : No.

The article from nola.com is a bit contradictive. In contradiction to the headline, it states:

Merkel's party still holds an 8 percentage point lead over the Social Democrats, and whether she becomes Germany's first female chancellor may lie more in the conservatives' focus of creating jobs for the nation's nearly 5 million unemployed than her gender.

Thematizing gender plays a role, but I think it's more at the campaign's periphery. But nevertheless, her candidature is an important breach in political traditions. Never before her, a woman was laeding one of Germany's big parties, and for the CDU it is also important that she comes from the east (CDU has its roots in the west) and that she is a protestant (CDU is the heir to political catholicism in Germany).

by Saturday (geckes(at)gmx.net) on Sat Sep 10th, 2005 at 04:38:07 PM EST
[ Parent ]
1. Scenario 1:  I will vote for Mrs. Merkel, because she is a woman.  Hmmm...sounds like a quota!

Scenario 2: I will vote for Mrs. Merkel, because she represents my interests/views/ideology.  Hmmm...sounds like a principled position!

2. A. How do you think a socialist/leftist feminist should vote?

B.  How do you think a socialist/leftist feminist will vote?

by ilg37c on Sun Sep 11th, 2005 at 12:03:39 AM EST
[ Parent ]
1) You don't vote for chancellor in Germany - you vote for local representatives and party lists.

2 A) Left Party or Greens.

2 B) Left Party or Greens.

*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.

by DoDo on Sun Sep 11th, 2005 at 06:39:54 AM EST
[ Parent ]
  1. Thanks for the info about voting for the local representatives and party lists.

  2. My point about 2 scenarios was that its an unprincipled position to vote for another ideology based on sex, race, religion, etc.  For example, a true feminist should not vote for a woman, but for her ideology/interest/etc.
by ilg37c on Sun Sep 11th, 2005 at 10:00:38 AM EST
[ Parent ]
About 2, that's something conservatives like to harp on about - and then vote out most women despite their ideology... they respect women only if they are three times as ruthless and reckless as the avorage male con leader.

Same for quotas.

I note Merkel was attacked rather strongly for her sex by party rivals playing macho a few years ago, but she out-maneuvered the rival power group (the self-styled "Andenpakt", a group that formed on a plane en route to Pinochet's Chile...).

*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.

by DoDo on Sun Sep 11th, 2005 at 12:16:08 PM EST
[ Parent ]

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