The politics of podium height.
EmailCongratulations Mr President elect. Yesterday you brought a group of strong, intelligent, well-qualified women on to your national security team. We were thrilled. This is not gender-tokenism but a real commitment to hiring the best people, and in this case they are women.
But, what in the heck were you thinking, shoving them behind a podium built for a man, and a very tall man at that. Do you or your people not think? This is pc podium politics 101.
Never put a woman behind a lectern where she’s going to look like Alice, after she’s swallowed the make-me-shorter pill. Beyond the embarrassment factor (were we the only ones to cringe?), it doesn’t help your message. How can anyone be a formidable powerbroker on the world stage when their introduction to the world stage is a feminine nose peaking diminutively over the top of two outsize microphones?
At least Hillary, podium savvy after the long primary campaign, had the wits to tilt the mikes down so they didn’t totally block her eyes. But we can only assume it was poor Susan Rice, the shortest of the three women to suffer this public humiliation, talking about her plans for the Ambassadorship of the United Nations, because well, we couldn’t actually see her.
I’m not suggesting deliberate slight on the part of team Obama – though it would have been an amusing question given the election animosity – but next time you want to build up a woman, don’t put her down with such a basic slight. All it takes is a box quickly put into place for the woman to step on to. Believe me, I’ve been there all too often, gazing out at Wonderland from a podium built for a big boy not a little girl.
kk
RSS
Twitter
Facebook
BEHIND a podium? As a podium is something one stands ON, I’m not sure how one could be behind one–ON one or UNDER one, but not behind…. A lectern is what one stands behind.
If members of the press can’t get it right, how can we expect our students to?
Posted by: Joel | December 2, 2008, 8:30 am 8:30 am
I noticed that too. I was so happy that Hillary tilted those stupid mikes. Ladies lets not count on the men to look out for us keep our own step stools on hand.
Posted by: rachel | December 2, 2008, 8:35 am 8:35 am
Agree Mr. Obama’s people should have thought ahead. There are podiums that are adjustable by electricity. I’m a 5’5″ man being a senior executive of Fortune 500 firms. I’ve come to expect the podium problem. I generally move the microphones to the left speaking a bit louder and not stand behind the piece of wood.
Posted by: Lou Kasman | December 2, 2008, 8:35 am 8:35 am
Speaking as a short woman, I understand the writer’s complaint, however, I believe if you speak with authority and confidence, things like that shouldn’t matter. If you can’t be seen from behind the lectern, just grab a mike and walk out in front or stand to the side. The world does not accomodate short people or the very tall. It shoots for average. It’s up to us that are not ‘average’ to adapt.
Posted by: Catherine | December 2, 2008, 8:43 am 8:43 am
As a 5 foot one and a half inch woman I can only say AMEN!..Please all you long legged people whom I secretly envy remember we are all not so genetically blessed.
Posted by: Jenny Rome Ga | December 2, 2008, 8:56 am 8:56 am
Uh, Joel…podium and lectern are interchangeable. Look it up. And, yes, I agree…Obama, once again, proves his awkwardness with women. Kind of like when he told Hillary at the post-primary Unity, NH event how impressed he was with her ability to do all she does “while in heels.” At least he’s stopped trying to kiss her at every public event.
Posted by: allison | December 2, 2008, 8:57 am 8:57 am
What is wrong with looking like what you are? Statements like these make it seem that short is somehow “wrong” and we need to be put onto a box so that we can appear “right”. I’m all for seeing someone when they speak and for that reason it would be good to have had an alternate arrangement for the shorter speakers, but to imply that they need to appear anything other than the way God made them is wrong.
Posted by: Linda | December 2, 2008, 9:22 am 9:22 am
Whats wrong with the Press nowadays? Do they have too much freedom of speech or too much democracy.
The Pres. elect Obama was not looking for someone who is tall or short or whatever. And it was not his job to look how was the state of the Podium either!
He concentrated on a person who is capable to carry the duties they are assigned to.
I would urge the Press to write on what is educative, beneficial to people.
Posted by: FM | December 2, 2008, 9:28 am 9:28 am
Good article. It’s exactly what I thought as Hillary stepped up to speak.
But, how sad is it that you have to congratulate a man for doing the right thing for over half the population of this country.
Linda,
They just need to appear, and in the big world, perception is reality.
Posted by: Keith | December 2, 2008, 9:49 am 9:49 am
I may be wrong here, but I think many feminists are giving this movement a bad name. Why don’t you go and tell God that He’s made a mistake by making some people different? What exactly do you want? Yes, I think it was an overlook on the part of the team for not envisioning that the shorter people would have a hard time being seen. However, sometimes your demands come accross as arrogant.
It’s like you telling someone they need to know that we are equal but when they overlook your shortcomings, how dare they? We need to go back to whoever our creator is and tell him or her to restart this entire process. Tell them that both men and women should carry babies; tell them that we should have the same physicality; tell them to eliminate any differences between all humans.
Posted by: D | December 2, 2008, 10:01 am 10:01 am
Allison… “Uh, Joel…podium and lectern are interchangeable.”
Sorry, but they’re not. See, for example, the Oxford American College Dictionary. You might find them confused on the Web or in Microsoft’s thesaurus, but careful writers still make the distinction, just as they know the difference between “lie” and “lay” and know how to use the subjunctive mood correctly.
Posted by: Joel | December 2, 2008, 10:07 am 10:07 am
Nic picking!!!
Would it satisfied everyone if they had a step stool for short people???
Posted by: sisterdearest09 | December 2, 2008, 10:10 am 10:10 am
sister – “Would it satisfied everyone if they had a step stool for short people???” No then we short people would be gripping because we feel we are being made fun of because we are short. Ladies (and gentlemen) step up and grab that mike and adjust it as needed.
Posted by: Jenny Rome Ga | December 2, 2008, 10:22 am 10:22 am
As a short person I resent this whole notion that being short is not good or socially appealing. If women are on average significantly shorter than men, this notion — that being short is bad — is the sexist of all. Why not celebrate petite sizes? Why associate power and authority with tallness? Especially after we’ve seen so many capable short people around the world?
The podium should surely be adjusted — and should be adjusted when an ultra tall person talks too just so s/he won’t have to bend over. But making this suggestion doesn’t warrant a negative judgment on being short.
Posted by: teddymaniac | December 2, 2008, 10:28 am 10:28 am
People noone is saying it’s bad to be short, but I don’t care how well you speak or how intelligent you are it takes away from your message when the people you are addressing can’t see you because your behind wood and the mic comes up to your head, and this is coming from a 4″8 woman. I have no problem standing on a stool or taking an open mic and forgoing the podeum err lecturn whatever if I have that choice.
Posted by: rachel | December 2, 2008, 10:50 am 10:50 am
On further consideratin, it wasn’t the height of the lectern that caused the problem. It was the stupid, arrogant “Office of the President-Elect” sign that got in the way. That’s possibly why nobody thought to provide a step or anything. The lectern height is just fine.
Posted by: Keith | December 2, 2008, 5:19 pm 5:19 pm
As a man who is only 5’7″ I would think it is more embarrassing for a man’s face to be cut off by a podium, however, since short men are not as successful with politics or as popular with women(except for Robert Reich, the former Labor Secretary) I don’t think I will ever have this problem.
If that makes you feel any better.
Posted by: Richard G. Collura | December 9, 2008, 12:08 pm 12:08 pm
Intereting comment. Just this week I discussed the issue with an asian employee. She is an up and coming executive, 4 ft 8 inches. I discussed the problems I’ve seen in 30 years of public speaking:I’m 5’4″. I’ve actually caried a portable step stool, arrived early and placed it under the podium. Usually, I grab the mike and step out in front. What ever the case, the lesson learned is I needed to take care of myself. Accomodating my vetically challenged issues were not part of the project plan.
Posted by: elizabeth | December 24, 2008, 11:56 am 11:56 am