This election season, Republican women have been thrust into the spotlight at a time when there’s still remarkably few women in congress to begin with. On yesterday’s Brian Lehrer Show at WNYC, Nation executive editor and co-editor of Going Rouge: Sarah Palin—An American Nightmare Betsy Reed and Salon senior writer and author of Big Girls Don’t Cry: The Election That Changed Everything for American Women Rebecca Traister argue that the GOP is masking their track record of anti-woman policies by promoting celebrity women candidates.

While Republicans are recognizing the benefits of appropriating feminist rhetoric, Democrats are shying away from over-feminizing themselves, and are leaving a lot of crucial voters feeling alienated, argues Rebecca Traister, author of the Nation article “Democrats: Remember the Ladies!”

“Non-college educated women are the swing voters in this election, and they don’t feel like people in Washington care about their lives,” says Betsy Reed, whose recent “Sex and the GOP” examines the appeal of conservative female candidates to male voters.

Reed and Traister also talk with a caller who considers herself a feminist, but feels like the Tea Party speaks to her interests.

—Braden Goyette