A Feminist Dilemma: Senator Caroline?

Hillary Rodham Clinton's nomination to Secretary of State has allowed a highly coveted Senate seat to become available, which is causing quite a stir in New York politics as well as within the women's rights movement. Not only has Clinton been a historic leader in the Senate, but she also served as one of the sixteen female members. Now, the question becomes - do we replace Clinton with a woman to keep up the effort toward gender parity in the Senate, or open it up to all qualified people? The choice isn't as easy or simple as it sounds.

While there is a plethora of qualified male and female candidates who could take the appointment - Kirsten Gillibrand (D-20 CD), Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, Brian Higgins (D-27 CD), Mayor of Buffalo, Byron Brown, Tom Suozzi, Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), Jose Serrano, Nita Lowey, Steve Israel, Gregory Meeks, and Joe Crowley - the validity of each candidate comes down to whether or not they can garner the appointment and then successfully fundraise, campaign and win the seat again in 2010.

For this task, it seems that the media has endorsed one of the lesser qualified, but better known candidates - Caroline Kennedy. With her name in the spotlight, it has brought up questions on the right and the left about whether Kennedy could be the next Sarah Palin for the democrats.

While I see the Kennedy-Palin comparison as a spurious argument since one is running for the Senate and the other was running for the Vice-Presidency, which no matter how you dice it are two very different jobs - the real debate in my mind is how the feminist groups would react if she were elected.

Newsday reports that Kennedy wouldn't be the first person to take the New York Senate seat with a lack of experience, however, the waffling over whether or not she would be a qualified Senator seems rather shortsighted, especially in light of the other eligible candidates, including Carolyn Maloney, who has been endorsed by all the major women's groups.

Maloney would be a great candidate to bring into the Senate - her legislative efforts include expansion of the Family and Medical Leave Act and the Debbie Smith Act for processing of DNA evidence/rape kits; a 100% rating from the Children's Defense Fund; and leadership on reproductive issues in the U.S. and internationally; as well as working in the fight to end gender apartheid in Afghanistan.

It is a wonder then that so much media attention has been focused on Kennedy who seemingly has little to offer the people of New York, except for being part of one of the greatest political dynasties of all time. But as the likelihood of her success in winning the appointment grows, it brings up an interesting dilemma for the feminist groups:

With only 16 women out of 100 senators, the stakes are high for the women's rights movement to find another female to take Clinton's place. But how much will the appointment become a matter of gender instead of experience?