Cuomo Advanced a Feminist Agenda. Was That Just Politics?

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo often boasts astir the enactment helium has done to alteration the world. On Tuesday, helium expressed astonishment that the satellite had, successful his telling, changed without him.

In announcing his resignation, Mr. Cuomo recounted however helium had learned — successful speechmaking a 165-page study accusing him of sexually harassing astir a twelve women, and with the assistance of his 3 grown daughters — that possibly helium wasn’t the enlightened feminist state helium had meant to be.

“In my mind, I’ve ne'er crossed the enactment with anyone, but I didn’t recognize the grade to which the enactment has been redrawn,” helium said. “There are generational and taste shifts that I conscionable didn’t afloat appreciate, and I should have.”

In Mr. Cuomo’s accounting, helium was a victim, too: an old-school person who, similar a clip traveler stumbling into a antithetic reality, had abruptly discovered a nine upended by the MeToo movement. (That specified basal expectations person agelong been taught successful kindergarten — Hands to yourself! — seemed someway forgotten.)

The governor’s not-so-contrite apology acceptable disconnected a question of disapproval from advocates and governmental rivals who person agelong grumbled astir a spread betwixt his nationalist accomplishments connected behalf of women and his willingness to usage the rhetoric of feminism to bolster his nationalist representation oregon prehend governmental advantage. The report’s revelations had near them trying to marque consciousness of an adjacent greater disconnect — betwixt the grounds of a progressive politician who had championed sex equity and women’s reproductive rights and idiosyncratic behaviour that violated the standards helium himself had signed into law.

But determination was nary specified ambivalence astir Mr. Cuomo’s effort connected Tuesday to explicate distant his behaviour by pleading ignorance of societal standards and expectations of accountability.

“He perfectly knew that this benignant of behaviour has ne'er been OK oregon acceptable,” said Assemblywoman Linda B. Rosenthal, a Manhattan Democrat, who said that an Assembly proceeding she was starring connected rent alleviation erupted successful applause upon proceeding quality of Mr. Cuomo’s resignation. “The civilization has shifted successful Albany somewhat, but his behaviour was ne'er appropriate. Not 10 years ago. Not 5 years agone oregon past week.”

But, Ms. Rosenthal added: “I conjecture what other is helium going to say?”

Mr. Cuomo has seldom been astatine a nonaccomplishment for words successful touting his feminist credentials. For years, helium formed himself arsenic a crusader for women’s rights, often adopting the rhetoric of the MeToo movement.

“There indispensable beryllium zero tolerance for intersexual harassment successful immoderate workplace,” he wrote connected Twitter successful 2018, “and we tin and volition extremity the secrecy and coercive practices that person enabled harassment for acold excessively long.”

He besides often suggested that being the begetter of 3 daughters had fixed him peculiar empathy for and penetration into the needs of much than fractional the colonisation — arsenic if sexist men lone person sons.

“God told maine I was a feminist erstwhile helium gave maine 3 daughters,” helium said astatine a rally for termination rights successful 2018. “My begetter was a feminist. God told him helium was a feminist erstwhile helium had 14 grandchildren, 13 girls retired of 14 grandchildren.”

In his code connected Tuesday, Mr. Cuomo erstwhile again referenced his daughters — his “three jewels,” helium called them — but successful a precise antithetic way, saying that helium was pained by the look successful their eyes and that helium wanted them to cognize helium would ne'er “treat immoderate pistillate otherwise than I would privation them treated.”

“Your dada made mistakes, and helium apologized, and helium learned from it,” helium added.

Yet successful minimizing his behaviour arsenic old-fashioned but innocent, Mr. Cuomo besides leaned connected a acquainted governmental playbook for antheral politicians accused of intersexual harassment: Cite generational changes, a “tactile” style of retail politicking, a tendency to link with voters that overcomes immoderate respect for their idiosyncratic space.

In April 2019, President Biden relied connected a akin explanation aft facing charges that his campaign-trail touching made immoderate women uncomfortable — accusations that ne'er took connected the gravity of those leveled and substantiated against Mr. Cuomo.

Ms. Rosenthal suggested Mr. Cuomo’s occupation was little a reflection of his nonaccomplishment to support up with societal changes than of his idiosyncratic consciousness of entitlement. “It’s benignant of similar adjacent connected his mode out, he’s denying his pistillate employees’ experience,” she said.

In his speech, Mr. Cuomo asked voters to retrieve his landmark progressive accomplishments, including matrimony equality, an assault-weapons prohibition and escaped assemblage tuition for eligible students.

Notably unmentioned was his grounds connected women’s rights.

In 2012, Mr. Cuomo released a 10-point “Women’s Equality Agenda” that yet led to a bundle of laws aiding the fights against workplace and wage favoritism and home violence. His efforts escalated aft Donald J. Trump was elected president and pistillate voters emerged astatine the forefront of the absorption to the caller administration. On the time that women marched against Mr. Trump’s inauguration, Mr. Cuomo announced that his medication would necessitate wellness insurers to screen medically indispensable abortions and astir forms of contraception astatine nary outgo — fundamentally safeguarding protections that Republicans were trying to repeal.

In 2019, helium signed the Reproductive Health Act, which enshrined the close to termination successful New York State successful lawsuit Roe v. Wade were overturned, expanded entree to abortions, and allowed termination aft 24 weeks to support the mother’s wellness oregon if the fetus was not viable. He besides signed authorities extending the statute of limitations for rape successful New York State.

And successful August 2019, helium signed sweeping anti-sexual-harassment authorities that supporters said would marque New York’s laws among the nation’s strongest.

At times, though, Mr. Cuomo exploited the feminist sensibility that was taking basal successful the nationalist Democratic Party during his tenure.

The Path to Governor Cuomo’s Resignation

Before his 2014 re-election, Mr. Cuomo acceptable up a Women’s Equality Party — which enactment his sanction connected its enactment enactment — arsenic a tactical determination to fend disconnected a pistillate challenger, Zephyr Teachout, and undercut his rivals successful the left-wing Working Families Party.

Some advocates besides minimized the grade of trouble of Mr. Cuomo’s accomplishments and said helium could person pushed harder, sooner, and done more.

Cynthia Nixon, who challenged Mr. Cuomo for the Democratic information successful 2018, said: “Our run kept saying that helium pays each this articulator work to women’s rights, but his allyship was ever astir a 4th of an inch deep. It was ever to springiness himself governmental screen and look similar a caring ally, which was acold from the truth, obviously.”

As the MeToo question swept America, Mr. Cuomo emerged arsenic a clarion dependable connected the broadside of victims. He surrounded himself with personage feminists and allied himself with the leaders of Time’s Up, the organization founded by Hollywood women to combat intersexual maltreatment and beforehand sex equality. He railed against Republicans for pushing done the information of Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, calling connected Mr. Kavanaugh to instrumentality a polygraph test. And helium trumpeted New York’s intersexual harassment authorities successful 2019, saying it would “honor the women who person had the courageousness to travel guardant and archer their story.”

All the while, however, according to the authorities lawyer general’s autarkic report, Mr. Cuomo was behaving privately successful ways that helium condemned publicly.

“What changed is the instrumentality caught up to everyone’s communal knowing of intersexual harassment,” said Rita Pasarell, co-founder of the Sexual Harassment Working Group, a radical of erstwhile Albany legislative aides who pushed for the legislation. “What hasn’t changed is almighty radical reasoning they’re supra the law. And I deliberation that’s precisely the crux of what’s going connected with Cuomo.”

Of course, it was Mr. Cuomo’s enactment of a pistillate lieutenant politician that volition pb to Kathy Hochul’s being sworn successful to win him, becoming New York’s archetypal pistillate governor, aft 56 men, and lone the 45th pistillate to service arsenic politician of immoderate state.

Ms. Hochul, who was mostly ignored by Mr. Cuomo, volition instrumentality the reins of authorities authorities successful the midst of a resurgent pandemic and successful the aftermath of a person who tightly controlled authorities authorities for implicit a decade.

That’s not atypical, successful authorities oregon successful business. After men resign successful scandal, female leaders are often asked to cleanable up the messes near behind.

The improvement is truthful acquainted it has a name: the solid cliff. A derivation of the solid ceiling, it refers to women being elevated to positions of powerfulness erstwhile things are going poorly, creating a greater hazard of failure.

Some women’s rights advocates and New York officials accidental that simply replacing Mr. Cuomo with a pistillate volition not beryllium enough. They privation lawmakers successful Albany to determination guardant with impeachment proceedings and a conviction, barring Mr. Cuomo from moving again for statewide office.

Shaunna Thomas, a laminitis of UltraViolet, a sex equity advocacy group, said that successful watching Mr. Cuomo’s speech, she felt that helium was continuing to effort to “weaponize feminism successful his ain defense.”

“This needs to beryllium the commencement of accountability,” she said of his resignation, “not the end.”