At eight weeks pregnant, most of my workday was spent suppressing the urge to vomit on whomever I was interviewing.
That memory was why I was momentarily floored by the recent revelation that Serena Williams won the Australian Open final while at the same stage in her pregnancy, triumphing 6-4, 6-4 in the final.
My amazement abated when I also remembered she鈥檚 a supreme athlete and sports role model for the ages鈥攁n absolute pro.
Why shouldn鈥檛 she prevail in her area of expertise while her uterus was occupied? I certainly wasn鈥檛 less able to quote 鈥�90s TV like a pro鈥攎y area of expertise鈥� when I had a tummy-expanding tenant.
Thing is, being a woman isn鈥檛 an impediment. Sure, we have socially constructed road-blocks, but we, in our respective areas of expertise, are good enough, smart enough and it really doesn鈥檛 matter at all whether you like us as we succeed. (Ten points if you can identify that bungled 鈥�90s-ism.)
That鈥檚 what I like about our premier, actually.
She is an ace politician. She can deliver and take sharp political blows in equal measure and still come out unruffled, mastering the balance between light and serious better than the majority of her contemporaries.
She鈥檚 confident, knows her material and doesn鈥檛 back down. Like Williams with tennis. Like me, with 鈥�90s TV quotes.
BC Liberals know this, I鈥檇 assume. That鈥檚 why she鈥檚 their party leader.
Yet lately they seem to want to make her sound like she鈥檚 a victim and I can鈥檛 help but think that it鈥檚 a terrible bit of strategy that not only undermines the premier but women in general.
This all came up in a debate a week ago when BC NDP leader John Horgan repeatedly interrupted Clark. He was snarky鈥攍ike everyone else鈥攁nd at one point he said she should 鈥漷ake a few minutes and read something.鈥�
Clark handled it well, but party supporters were ridiculously excited about it.
Mike McDonald, who was previously Clark鈥檚 chief of staff got onto the Twitter and wrote 鈥溾�ut today鈥檚 radio debate takes the cake. (Horgan) is clearly threatened by a strong female leader.鈥�
Pamela Martin, another party insider, took to Huffington Post to talk about Horgan鈥檚 comments and equated them to casual sexism, noting it has no place in our political system.
Then all these women on the a political gossip page I follow took her words to heart and started posting about how they couldn鈥檛 vote for the NDP, now that they know Horgan is a sexist.
This threw me for a loop and made me actually wonder: Is John Horgan really a universal-daycare shilling sexist or was he simply utilizing the rules of engagement?
It鈥檚 the latter, in case you don鈥檛 know where I鈥檓 going with this.
Politicians are unpleasant during debates. They鈥檙e not making a case to be invited for dinner.
That鈥檚 where they鈥檙e supposed to be elbowing their way in and making a point, and we as observers take the theatrical with a grain of salt while we listen to where they stand on issues that affect our lives. As for how they conducted themselves, Horgan doesn鈥檛 have to like Clark. Clark doesn鈥檛 have to like Horgan. They鈥檙e opponents of equal skill fighting for different things.
Calling what happened during the debate sexism doesn鈥檛 forward the case for women鈥檚 equality. What it did was capitalize on these unfortunate themes for the sake of political gain and that makes me a little nauseated.
