Online NewsHour: Women's Views -- March 18, 1998

DOUBLE STANDARD?

March 18, 1998

The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer Transcript

The manner in which women's groups have responded to the series of sexual allegations against President Clinton has lead some critics to charge them with holding a double standard. Following a background report, Margaret Warner and guests discuss how women's groups are dealing with the latest allegations against the president.

A RealAudio version of this segment is available.
NEWSHOUR LINKS:
March 18, 1998:
A discussion of the women's groups reaction to the latest allegations against the president.

March 16, 1998:
A discussion of the latest allegations against the president.

March 13, 1998:
Shield's and Gigot discuss the Paula Jones case.

March 13, 1998:
Washington Post's Dan Balz talks about recent events in the Paula Jones case.

March 3, 1998:
A discussion of Clinton's sealed deposition and the second day of Vernon Jordan's testimony.

February 18, 1998:
The latest developments in the Clinton investigation.

February 10, 1998:
Reaction to Marcia Lewis' grand jury testimony.

OUTSIDE LINKS
The National Organization for Women's statements on the Kathleen Willey and Paul Jones situations.

MARGARET WARNER: Seven years ago Anita Hill publicly excused her former boss, Supreme Court Nominee Clarence Thomas, sexually harassing her when she worked for him.
Anita Hill's charge against Clarence Thomas.

ANITA HILL: My working relationship became even more strained when Judge Thomas began to use work situations to discuss sex.
MARGARET WARNER: Some senators questioned her credibility, in part because Hill had followed Thomas to subsequent government jobs after the alleged harassment. But women's groups like the National Organization for Women, or NOW, rallied to Hill's cause; so did Democratic activists. Democratic strategist Ann Lewis insisted Hill's continued contact with Thomas did not undercut her credibility. Lewis told CNN's "Crossfire:" "You don't know what it's like to be a young working woman, to have this really prestigious and powerful boss and think you have to stay on the right side of him or for the rest of your working life he could nix another job."
DEMONSTRATORS: Hey, hey, ho, ho, Bob Packwood has to go. Hey, hey--
MARGARET WARNER: Since then, feminists and women's groups have rallied to the cause of women alleging sexual misconduct by other public figures like Senator Bob Packwood.
WOMAN: This is not just my word against his.
A different reaction.

MARGARET WARNER: But their reaction was different in 1994, when former Arkansas state worker Paula Jones came forward to charge that then-Governor Bill Clinton had made an unwelcome sexual advance to her three years earlier.
PAULA JONES: He started to put his hands and slide up my legs, I pushed him back, I got away. He picked at me several times, and it was humiliating for someone of that nature; you're supposed to trust somebody like that.
MARGARET WARNER: Most mainstream women's groups reacted cautiously. In a statement, NOW President Patricia Ireland said she viewed any sexual harassment charge as serious, but "we are somewhat concerned that the people who are bringing the Paula Jones case forward are involved with the religious right and typically don't have the best interests of women at heart." Susan Carpenter-McMillan is an adviser to Jones.
SUSAN CARPENTER-McMILLAN: I've watched the women's movement, who tripped over their pantyhose to defend Anita Hill, suddenly go moot.
MARGARET WARNER: When reports surfaced two months ago that White House intern Monica Lewinsky had alleged a sexual affair with President Clinton, again women's organizations had little to say. But this week, when former White House volunteer Kathleen Willey publicly accused Mr. Clinton of making an unwanted sexual advance in 1993, NOW's president did speak out.
Katherine Willey's charge against the president.

PATRICIA IRELAND: If what Kathleen Willey says happened, then it's not just sexual harassment. These are not lewd comments by the water cooler. This is a sexual assault.
MARGARET WARNER: Leaders of other women's' rights groups, like the National Abortion Rights Action League and 9 to 5, also said they found Willey credible. But Ann Lewis, now communications director at the White House, said she believed the president's denial because Willey had come to Lewis after the alleged event, seeking a job in the 1996 campaign.
ANN LEWIS: I have a personal experience of my own which confirms the president's statement, because I met Kathleen Willey in 1996, and Kathleen Willey told me then she had worked for the president in 1992, she had worked at the White House. She was very positive in his admiration of him, of how proud she was to have been associated with him, and how much she wanted to do that again, to play a similar role in 1996.
MARGARET WARNER: The White House also released more than a dozen letters from Kathleen Willey to President Clinton dated before and after the alleged 1993 incident. In warm, sometimes gushing language, Willey repeatedly asked the president for help--in securing a White House job, a diplomatic post, and an invitation to a White House Christmas party.

Program
Support
From: