She's 'Plenty Ladylike'

Senator's book paints "raw, brutally honest' picture of her personal, professional life

U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill signs a copy of her memoir, "Plenty Ladylike," after speaking to the public at Missouri River Regional Library in August.
U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill signs a copy of her memoir, "Plenty Ladylike," after speaking to the public at Missouri River Regional Library in August.

Women in business are getting more recognition these days, surpassing historical challenges to their advancement success. Claire McCaskill is in the business of politics, and she has plenty to say about women's advancement in that realm.

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Staff Photogragher

Ted Hall, superintendent of Batesville schools, gave his resignation to the school board at its last regular meeting.

McCaskill, now midway through her second term representing Missouri in the U.S. Senate, has held professional and elected positions over the span of her decades-long career including Missouri state auditor, state representative, Jackson County prosecutor and private-practice attorney. She has experienced various triumphs and challenges throughout her political career, and with her memoir, "Plenty Ladylike," released earlier this year, is challenging common perceptions of how women should behave in politics and in life.

"I made a conscious decision to write a book that was raw and brutally honest about my personal life because I want women to realize that everyone has what seem to be insurmountable personal problems, and I want women to realize that you can in fact manage your way through those moments when in your personal life things are unhappy - when your children are unhappy, when your marriage is not good," McCaskill said in an interview with the News Tribune following the release of her book. "Everybody has personal problems that seem insurmountable, and you've got to just push through."

McCaskill's memoir outlines several situations she has "pushed through" both personally and professionally - perhaps most notably a campaign strategy criticized by some that may have helped her win re-election to the Senate in 2008, wherein she dedicated $1.7 million to advertisements sealing Republican opponent Todd Akin's party nomination.

"I feel like it was a pretty straight-forward strategy, and I think that many of the people criticizing it are just mad that it worked," McCaskill said. "It was a two-for ad because not only was I telling Republican primary voters why they should vote for Todd Akin, I was also disqualifying him with independent voters at the same time because the views that are popular in the base of his party are not popular with independent voters."

She noted some have criticized her for being too calculating in her strategy, but she believes that criticism has more to do with her being a woman than with the strategy itself.

"I think that goes in the same category of "women should be seen and not heard.' I think that's a backwards way of looking at their capabilities," McCaskill said. "When men are highly strategic, they get promoted. When women are highly strategic, they're called manipulative and gossiped about. That's unacceptable."

McCaskill ultimately won the 2008 election over Akin, and she stands by the strategy that helped her do it.

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Matt Rush of Melbourne graduated with a master’s degree in business management but decided to move back to his hometown and found work on a farm.

"I started out in politics when I was in my 20s, and I watched people calculating and strategizing their careers, and I realized that it was necessary. By the way, I think it's necessary no matter what you do," she said. "I think that one of the problems women have is this notion that you don't rock the boat, that you don't push the envelope, that you don't take big risks. That may be a good way to stay in a secure job, but it's probably not the best way to achieve all that you can."

An incident during the same 2008 election produced what eventually became the title of her memoir.

"Akin told a reporter for the Associated Press that I had been more "ladylike' when I ran six years earlier against Jim Talent. In contrast, I had been "very aggressive' with him in our debate," McCaskill writes in "Plenty Ladylike." "Unladylike is just another label used to stifle, limit or marginalize women."

While she believes women have made great strides both in politics and in business, she still sees other places she thinks women are being limited.

"There is still sexism in whether or not women are viewed as important contributors in the workplace, but not necessarily tapped to be future leaders in the workplace. Some of that is the fault of the bosses, but some of it is the unwillingness of women to take risks and ask for that raise, ask for that job title, ask for that promotion," McCaskill said.

She attributes some of that lack of confidence to the old idea that women's priorities revolve more around their families than men's do.

"I think there's a hesitancy with some women about whether or not they can have a family and be a good mother at the same time they're in a high-pressure, high-profile, stressful job," she said. "You can't do it all perfectly, but even if you're a stay-at-home mom you can't do it perfectly. So the notion that somehow you can't be a great mother - not a perfect mother, but a great mother - and work at the same time I think is nonsense."

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Michael Stewart, left, and Jimmy Townsend work on the line at the Drumco plant in Arkadelphia.

McCaskill said she does think women have started to become more comfortable celebrating their family life in public and at work rather than treating it as a weakness.

"I have witnessed a gradual change in how women candidates present themselves to the voters. In the past thirty years, they have stopped trying not to publicize the fact that they are mothers and have stopped apologizing for being vulnerable," she writes in her memoir. "Motherhood and vulnerability have become assets that humanize a candidate."

In fact, McCaskill chose to prominently call attention to her own motherhood by selecting a photo of her holding her oldest son, Austin, while working at her desk in the Capitol as a Missouri representative years ago.

"I don't think we need to quit expressing or talking about the love for our children; I think men need to do it more, and men need to step up and take over some of the caretaking roles in a more shared capacity. That's the goal we should strive for: not women being less, but men being more present in their kids' lives," she said. "When I was a prosecutor and when I was an auditor, I went out of my way to ask men why they weren't taking paternity leave. As far as I was concerned, that was a negative."'

In addition to shrugging off old concepts of how women should present themselves in the workplace and in politics, McCaskill also encourages women to embrace the valuable qualities they can bring to the table.

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Submitted

Batesville students participate in the elementary division of the state archery tournament held in Hot Springs on Feb. 5 and 6.

"I do believe women are willing to listen, to compromise, and to share the credit. For the most part, they won't let their egos get in the way of what they're trying to do. And I do think a relationship of trust has developed among the sixteen Democratic and four Republican women senators," she writes in her book. "One thing we all share is the sense of comradeship that comes from knowing what we've gone through to achieve our office."

She added later in an interview that today's political environment of negative advertising makes that a challenge the female senators are dealing with better than some of their male counterparts: "It's not what you're for, it's not what you believe in, but it's about disqualifying the other guy. So when you get to office after that kind of adversarial thing, the ability to be collaborative, the ability to try to get things done even if you don't get credit - it's pretty important. And I think the women in the Senate, anyway, are really good at that. They're good negotiators, they're good arbitrators, and they're great at trying to bring people together."

Overall, when it comes to women excelling in whatever they do, McCaskill would encourage them to embrace their strengths and not concern themselves with how people expect them to act.

"We've got to change the definition of what ladylike is. Yes, ladylike is being polite and being kind, but it's also being aggressive and having lots of ambition and being strategic and speaking out," McCaskill said. "And that's what I want ladylike to be going forward. Let's throw away the old adage, "being seen and not heard,' and turn it into speaking loudly and changing the world."