White men to fill Obama's Cabinet
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Obama's second term Cabinet picks include Jack Lew, Chuck Hagel and John Kerry
- Some worry the trend will derail the president's previous track record of diversity
- Defense and treasury Cabinet spots still a glass ceiling for women
CNN has learned President Barack Obama is expected to nominate White House chief of staff Jack Lew as treasury secretary.
The likely contenders to
replace Lew -- including Ron Klain, who once served as Vice President
Joe Biden's chief of staff, and Denis McDonough, a deputy national
security adviser -- are all men.
Then there's the
president's recent choice for defense secretary: former Sen. Chuck
Hagel. The preferred choice to replace Hillary Clinton as secretary of
state is another man: Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry.
The trend troubles those who study the role of women in government.
Obama faces Cabinet diversity pressure
Obama Cabinet possibilities
Vacancies at Cabinet table
"What you're hearing is
that as new openings come up, there are missed opportunities to bring
women in at that level," said Debbie Walsh, director of Rutgers
University's Center for American Women and Politics, which tracks women
in elective office.
"It is concerning at a
time when you have a gender gap that put (Obama) over the top, and that
gap was a diverse gender gap," Walsh said.
Susan Rice, the U.S.
ambassador to the United Nations, was believed to be the front-runner
for Clinton's job but withdrew her name from consideration. She took
heavy criticism from Republicans over her public statements about the
deadly attack on the American diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, in
September.
Obama's Cabinet: Who's in, who's out?
Others candidates, such
as Michele Flournoy, who served as undersecretary of defense, and Lael
Brainard, an undersecretary at the Treasury Department, were bypassed in
favor of Hagel and Lew, respectively.
Moreover, there are more men than women among names being considered for other Cabinet positions in Obama's second term.
The White House stresses
a commitment to diversity and points to a number of women named to big
jobs led by Clinton, Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, Homeland Security
Secretary Janet Napolitano and Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.
Solis on Wednesday resigned from her position and is expected to leave the department around Obama's inauguration later this month.
But the administration
is looking for a woman to fill the commerce secretary position, two
sources familiar with the nomination told CNN. Rebecca Blank is acting
commerce secretary but is not expected to be the permanent choice.
How women ruled the 2012 election and where the GOP went wrong
The administration also
says that more than half of the White House staff is made up of women,
many in key senior leadership roles.
Contenders for Lew's job, the most powerful staff position in the administration, are both men.
Obama's two Supreme
Court appointments so far have been women, and White House spokesman Jay
Carney said the president speaks with a number of diverse candidates
for various positions and selects who he thinks is the right person for
the job.
"It's not uniform, it's a
broad sentiment and he believes the country is served by a process that
does seek out the diverse talent in this country for different
positions," Carney said this week.
Labor Secretary Hilda Solis resigns
Obama has a stronger record so far in this area than his immediate predecessor, Bush.
Roughly 36% of Obama's
Cabinet are women compared to 19% for Bush in his first term, according
to the Women and Politics center at Rutgers.
While Obama's record on
diversity is also better than the much-discussed 20% female
representation in the Senate, he would have to appoint more women to
match Bill Clinton's record. Women represented 41% of his Cabinet in his
second term.
But diversity is more
than numbers. It is also about ensuring that female candidates are being
considered for a variety of positions, said Jennifer Lawless, director
of Women & Politics Institute at American University.
"Nobody believes there's
any overt discrimination," Lawless said pointing at women who occupy
top posts in the Obama administration.
"Defense and Treasury:
Those are male-dominated issues and frontiers, and those are the areas
where woman still have to shore up their credentials and prove
themselves more," Lawless said.
"We've reached a point
in time where the Cabinets have become increasingly diverse. The next
challenge is to make sure we're not pigeonholing women into those
positions," she said.
0 comments:
Post a Comment