Sophia Bush: ‘Unlikable’ Needs To Be ‘Banished’ When Discussing Female Politicians

If you want to stay informed, a good place to start is by following Sophia Bush. The outspoken actress spoke to HL about the political climate & why people are so quick to call female candidates ‘unlikable.’

So quickly after Elizabeth Warren announced she was seeking presidential candidacy for 2020, the media, fellow politicians and Americans began to question whether she would face the same “likability issue” that former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton apparently did during her campaign. Less than 24 hours after her announcement, Politico even tweeted, “How does Elizabeth Warren avoid a Clinton redux—written off as too unlikable before her campaign gets off the ground?”  “It drives me crazy,” Sophia Bush said of the immediate response to questioning a female candidate’s ‘likability’ during an interview with HollywoodLife at the National Board of Review Awards on Jan. 7th. “We treat women like they’re meant to simply be pretty, like they’re meant to be looked at, like they’re meant to be mothers, like they’re meant to be caretakers, and you can be all of those things, but you’re equally empowered to be smart, educated, thoughtful, to be an investor – not just a charitable donor – if you can be both, great.”

She continued, “We have a real disparity, when men accrue wealth in this country we ask them to invest, and when women accrue wealth, we ask them to donate. That right there talks to you about what the difference in the structure is in society of how we view men and how we view women. And people can roll their eyes and say that it isn’t true, but it is.” As for judging a female candidate on whether she is ‘likable,’ instead of looking at her resume, Sophia believes the word should be banished all together when discussing political candidates. “‘Unlikable’ has become synonymous with smart, outspoken, opinionated, educated, active, and it’s a word I want to banish,” she revealed. “Anyone who is assessing Elizabeth Warren’s likability right now needs to take several seats. We need to see how this is all shaking out. I want to hear what they [all of the candidates] have to say because they’re smart and experienced and I am not looking for anyone to detract from any of them. We should be focused on rooting out who the best candidate it, man, woman, whatever, and see where we go.”

We couldn’t agree more with Sophia! Watch our full interview in the video above!