Hillary Clinton and Corporate Feminism

http://www.solidarity-us.org/site/node/4390
Date Written:  2015-03-01
Publisher:  Against the Current
Year Published:  2015
Resource Type:  Article
Cx Number:  CX20918

Feminist enthusiasm for Hillary Clinton is reflective of a profound crisis of U.S. liberal feminism, which has long embraced or accepted corporate capitalism, racism, empire, and even heterosexism and transphobia.

Abstract: 
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Excerpt:

Hillary Clinton's record on such issues is hardly encouraging. Her decades of service on corporate boards and in major policy roles as First Lady, U.S. Senator and Secretary of State give a clear indication of where she stands. One of Clinton’s first high-profile public positions was at Walmart, where she served on the board from 1986 to 1992. She "remained silent" in board meetings as her company "waged a major campaign against labor unions seeking to represent store workers," as an ABC review of video recordings later noted.

Clinton recounted in her 2003 book that Walmart CEO Sam Walton "taught me a great deal about corporate integrity and success." Though she later began trying to shed her public identification with the company in order to attract labor support for her Senate and presidential candidacies, Walmart executives have continued to look favorably on her, with Alice Walton donating the maximum amount to the "Ready for Hillary" Super PAC in 2013. Walton’s $25,000 donation was considerably higher than the average annual salary for Walmart’s hourly employees, two-thirds of whom are women.

After leaving Walmart, Clinton became perhaps the most active First Lady in history. While it would be unfair to hold her responsible for all her husband's policies, she did play a significant role in shaping and justifying many of them.