EP 485: Jennifer Palmieri Declares Independence from a Man's World

Jennifer Palmieri served as the former Communications Director to President Barack Obama and then for Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign. She spent most of her career advocating for herself and for other women from "within the system," but now she says it is time from women to break from that system and rewrite the playbook in her new book She Proclaims: Our Declaration of Independence from a Man's World. Jennifer looks back at the roots of the American feminist movement, the surprising historical events that held women back for the past 3 centuries, and why women are still fighting for equality on the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment that gave women the right to vote. Jennifer recalls times in her own career when she was hesitant to ask for what she deserved and times when she has caught herself filtering her real opinions for men, but says that the women actually outlasted the men in both the Clinton and Obama White Houses. She shares some startling psychological research about the gender dynamics that influenced the 2016 election, why women held Hillary Clinton to an impossible standard, and what some voters really meant when they said “there’s just something about Hillary that I don’t like.” Plus Jennifer remembers when she hired a young intern named Monica Lewinsky in the Clinton White House and how her perspective on the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal has changed over the years.

Order Jennifer Palmieri's new book She Proclaims: Our Declaration of Independence from a Man's World on Amazon, Audible, or wherever books are sold and follow her on twitter at @jmpalmieri.