Pamela Druckerman Quotes
Practically every time I speak up at a school conference, a political event, or my apartment building association's annual meeting, I'm met with a display of someone else's superior intelligence.
Druckerman, Pamela. "The French Art of Mansplaining." The New York Times, 11 Nov. 2017.
Mrs. Carter attended cabinet meetings sitting in the rear and taking copious notes. This at the time was very controversial in that no First Lady before had ever attended a cabinet meeting—not even Eleanor Roosevelt.
For the first time a woman was running for the presidency and she had a large following. However, there were still many who saw women as too emotional to be in leadership positions. Sarkozy did not want to anger many egalitarian French voters by appearing to be a sexist and attack a woman’s generic ability to lead. However, he cleverly waited for a moment in the debate where his opponent was particularly passionate about something. He gently chided her about it and she took the bait and very passionately and excitedly said that she had a right and obligation to be passionate about issues that affected millions of French lives. But as she did so she grew ever more passionate and forceful. Then Sarkozy struck with this quotation. The impression that the audience was left with is that Royal was a good woman who was properly concerned with issues but was just not ready for such a high position and did not quite have the demeanor that was needed for the Presidency. Sorkozy won the election the following week.
Pamela Druckerman is an American-French writer and journalist living in Paris, France. In fall 2013, she became a contributing opinion writer for The New York Times International Edition.
