CONDOLEEZA RICE’S BURDEN

In her autobiography Madam Secretary, former US Secretary of State (and the first woman to hold the position) Madeleine Albright, addressed the question of official sexism towards the US top diplomat. “I am often asked,” she wrote, “whether I was condescended to by men as I travelled around the world to Arab countries and other places with highly traditional cultures. I replied, ‘No, because when I arrived somewhere, it was in a large plane with “United States of America” emblazoned on the side.’ Foreign officials respected that. I had more problems with some of the men in my own government.” (Macmillan, 2003 p. xii) The big plane does not seem to be doing it for Condoleeza Rice, current US Secretary of State who is not just female but young,single, childless and African American. She has been given a terrible time during her recent trip to China and North Asia. Maybe to her face the officials are polite and show respect but the bloggers are relentless in portraying her in ways that are both sexist and racist. A report in Saturday’s Sydney Morning Herald describes some of the reaction and implies that, in a country where web sites are shut down by the government for the most minor exercises of free speech, that these comments are being officially tolerated, perhaps even encouraged. She is being called ugly, a monkey and so on, but my Chinese-speaking friends tell me the actual postings are far worse than anything quoted. The “c” word is frequently used, often with extraordinarily vituperative adjectives attached. You don’t have to like or agree with Condy’s politics to admire her achievements (concert pianist apart from the high-level foreign policy expertise) or to deplore attacks of this kind.