Candidate faces sexist q’s at North BK forum
BY BEN BRACHFELD
A state Senate candidate
was asked sexist questions at
a political club related to her
role as a mother of young children,
and she and other moms
running for offi ce are calling
for an end to a double standard
that never sees similar questions
asked of men.
Francoise Olivas is a
Greenpoint resident running
for the Democratic nomination
in the new Senate District 17,
which includes Greenpoint but
is mostly situated in Queens,
running the gambit from Long
Island City through Sunnyside,
Maspeth, Ridgewood,
Glendale, Woodhaven, and
Richmond Hill. Pre-pandemic,
Olivas owned a sustainable
fashion store in Greenpoint
after working for a number of
fashion brands and running
her own label, but has gotten
more involved in politics over
the past two years, serving as
VP of Community Outreach at
the Ruth Bader Ginsburg Democratic
Club and as a judicial
delegate in County Committee.
During a recent endorsement
interview with the North
Brooklyn Progressive Democrats,
a Greenpoint-based political
COURIER L 18 IFE, MARCH 11-17, 2022
club where she was formerly
director of organizing,
Olivas was subjected to a line
of inquiry from two members
questioning whether she was
capable of balancing the responsibilities
of offi ce with the
requirements of motherhood.
“As a senator, there are
certain responsibilities that
you have that you have to go
to Washington DC, you have
to go to Albany, New York
and things of that nature, and
travel around,” asked a club
member of Olivas, according to
audio released by Vote Mama,
a political action committee
supporting moms running for
offi ce. “How do you plan to do
that and have a child at the
time? You said you were going
to bring a child with you, this,
that, and the other.”
In further audio shared
with Brooklyn Paper, even after
being chastised for asking
the question, the member continued
to ask a similar line,
going so far as to suggest that
the parent of a young child
should forego working to raise
their youngster.
“Dude, get out of 1954,” someone
in attendance yelled out.
Earlier, another member of
the club asked a similar question,
and even grilled Olivas for
attending the meeting on Zoom
in order to take care of her
daughter (who was assigned a
workbook during the meeting).
Olivas, who is a fi rst-time
candidate and has a 4-year-old
daughter, was taken aback by
the question, which she hypothesized
would never have
been asked of a man. “It’s hard
to believe the fact that in 2022
in New York City, in one of the
most progressive cities in the
country, that this is a question
being asked,” she told Brooklyn
Paper.
But it’s one that women,
particularly mothers of young
children, get all the time, and,
in the view of those asked, refl
ects deeply ingrained sexist
assumptions about child-rearing
being solely a mother’s responsibility.
It also, in Olivas’
view, shows how bereft of moms
many legislative bodies are.
“This is a question that is
asked of mothers all the time,”
Olivas said. “There were so
many other questions I felt
that would’ve been appropriate.
But we need more moms
in offi ce. Not having a mother
at the table when negotiations
are being made about childcare,
eldercare, education, the
environment, we need that
lived perspective at the table.”
Liuba Grechen Shirley, the
founder of VoteMama and a former
candidate for Congress on
Long Island, and who famously
won a lawsuit allowing her to use
campaign funds towards childcare
for her then 3-and-1-yearolds,
says the question is a constant
hurdle thrown at women
all over the country, and that
when she herself ran for Congress,
the presence of her young
kids was often derided as a distraction
or even a political prop.
“Running for offi ce as
a mom can be isolating,”
Grechen Shirley said. “I was
called a bad mother, I was told I
used my kids as political props.
Every time I brought my kids
to an event I was questioned.”
The club did not respond
to a request for comment from
Brooklyn Paper, but posted a
statement on its Twitter page
saying the questions “do not
refl ect the opinion of the Executive
Committee.”
Olivas says she’s not too
concerned anymore about the
endorsement, and even said
that the whole experience has
been somewhat “energizing.”
“This is about breaking
down barriers for mothers,
not just in New York City but
across the country to run for
offi ce,” Olivas said.
Francoise Olivas (right) and her family. Courtesy of campaign
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