BBC Homepage
  • Skip to content
  • Accessibility Help
  • Your account
  • Notifications
  • Home
  • News
  • Sport
  • Weather
  • iPlayer
  • Sounds
  • Bitesize
  • CBBC
  • CBeebies
  • Food
  • More menu
More menu
Search BBC
  • Home
  • News
  • Sport
  • Weather
  • iPlayer
  • Sounds
  • Bitesize
  • CBBC
  • CBeebies
  • Food
Close menu
BBC News
Menu
  • Home
  • InDepth
  • Israel-Gaza war
  • War in Ukraine
  • Climate
  • UK
  • World
  • Business
  • Politics
  • Culture
More
  • Tech
  • Science
  • Health
  • Family & Education
  • In Pictures
  • Newsbeat
  • BBC Verify
  • Disability
  • BBC Trending

Are Mike Pence's dining habits chivalrous or sexist?

  • Published
    30 March 2017
Share page
About sharing
Vice-President Mike Pence and Second Lady Karen Pence on inauguration nightImage source, Getty Images
Image caption,

Vice-President Mike Pence and Second Lady Karen Pence on inauguration night

Jessica Lussenhop
BBC News

US Vice-President Mike Pence reportedly will not dine one-on-one with any woman who is not his wife, Karen. A fierce debate is raging online about what this means about his attitude towards women.

The internet is abuzz over a single detail from a recently published profile of Second Lady Karen Pence.

According to the article in the Washington Post, external, the vice-president told a reporter in 2002 that he "never eats alone with a woman other than his wife and that he won't attend events featuring alcohol without her by his side".

"If there's alcohol being served and people are being loose, I want to have the best-looking brunette in the room standing next to me," Pence said to a reporter at The Hill at the time.

"It's about building a zone around your marriage ... I don't think it's a predatory town, but I think you can inadvertently send the wrong message by being in [certain] situations."

It should be said that the interview is 15 years old. The BBC asked whether or not this is still Mike Pence's practice, and received this response from the vice-president's press secretary, Marc Lotter: "I think you are taking this entirely out of context. He set a standard to ensure a strong marriage when he first came to DC as a congressman, clearly that worked."

These kinds of practices are not unheard of on Capitol Hill: A 2015 survey by the National Journal found that "several" male members of Congress will not meet or drive one-on-one, external with their female staffers.

The bulk of the Washington Post story is about the couple's close relationship - their matching email addresses, their side-by-side treadmills, the red phone on the VP's desk that connects him directly to his wife - but readers seized upon the detail about Mike Pence's dining and drinking habits, touching off a fierce debate: Is this chivalry or sexism?

Team Chivalry

Many applauded the Pences for their commitment to one another, and their wariness of the pitfalls of engaging with the opposite sex.

"He's a smart man who understands that infidelity is something that threatens every marriage and must be guarded against," wrote a senior editor for The Federalist, external.

"Why are people upset with Mike Pence for showing extreme faithfulness to his wife?" wrote one reader, external on Twitter. "That ought to be the standard for husbands."

Others pointed out that plenty of political careers have been tanked due to infidelity and that these are simply good rules to live by to avoid any appearance of impropriety.

"These are completely reasonable boundaries - especially for people in public life who come under media scrutiny," tweeted one, external.

Atlantic senior editor David Frum opined that, external, "You can criticize Mike Pence if you agree never to believe a rumour about a politician sighted with an aide of the opposite sex."

Pence tweet about Women's History Month
Image caption,

Meanwhile, Pence tweeted about Women's History Month and praised the women working within the administration

Team Sexism

However, plenty of others criticised Pence for viewing any solo interaction with women as inherently fraught, and wondered what this could possibly mean for the women he works with.

"The problem w/ this Pence/meal thing is that it suggests that every interaction w/ a woman is potentially a sexual thing," tweeted one reader, external.

"Indicative of notion that women are primarily sexual temptresses," wrote commentator Elizabeth Spiers, external. "Also means Pence cannot have a working relationship w/ any women."

"If Pence won't eat with a woman alone, how could a woman be Chief of Staff, or lawyer, campaign manager, or..." wrote Mother Jones, external editor Clara Jeffrey.

"I don't know/care if Pences have weird hangups. I do care if women are being denied jobs and opportunities."

Still others, including Texas Monthly executive editor Pamela Colloff, pointed out that few women can hope to lead successful professional lives if they followed Pence's rule.

"Trying to imagine what my career would look like if I'd refused to dine solo with male editors & interview subjects," she wrote, external.

A cultural divide laid bare

While the detail about the Pences may seem trivial to some, the ensuing debate has exposed yet another deep cultural rift among Americans, at once touching on issues of religion, gender equity and politics.

"The response to Pence's unwillingness to be alone with women is, from my POV, the most surprising and eye-opening cultural divide in a while," wrote New York Times scribe Nate Cohn, external.

"Socially liberal or non-religious people may see Pence's practice as misogynistic or bizarre," wrote The Atlantic's Emma Green, external. "For a lot of conservative religious people, though, this set-up probably sounds normal, or even wise.

"The dust-up shows how radically notions of gender divide American culture."

Meanwhile, as the debate raged on social media, the vice-president cast the tie-breaking vote, external to dismantle an Obama-era rule that secured funding for reproductive services for women.

"VP can't be alone in a room with a woman, but he can decide the vote on our healthcare," tweeted one female critic., external "Wow."

Blog by Jessica Lussenhop, external

Next story: 'Black women at work' hashtag highlights prejudice

In this combination photo, Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., left, appears at the Justice on Trial Film Festival on Oct. 20, 2013, in Los Angeles and Fox News personality Bill O'Reilly appears on the set of his show, "The O'Reilly Factor," on Oct 1, 2015 in New YorkImage source, Associated Press

Black women are sharing their experiences of prejudice in the workplace, using the Twitter hashtag #BlackWomenatWork.READ MORE

You can follow BBC Trending on Twitter @BBCtrending, external, and find us on Facebook, external. All our stories are at bbc.com/trending.

More on this story

  • Activist takes Moscow star 'selfie' Video, 00:00:34Activist takes Moscow star 'selfie'

    • Published
      20 August 2014
    0:34
    A man takes a "selfie" as he stands with a Ukrainian flag on a Soviet-style star

Top stories

  • Trump and Putin to meet in Alaska for Ukraine talks next week

    • Published
      2 hours ago
  • Israel rejects international criticism of Gaza City takeover plan

    • Published
      8 hours ago
  • Israel's Gaza City plan means more misery for Palestinians and big risk for Netanyahu

    • Published
      14 hours ago

More to explore

  • Prince Andrew book seals his fate for any return

    Prince Andrew, head and shoulders, April 2025
  • 'JD Vance sends warning to UK' and 'Scam by me'

    A composite image of the front pages of the i Paper and the Sun on 9 August 2025
  • 'People are angry': Behind the wave of asylum hotel protests

    Protesters at Canary Wharf
  • Nasa Apollo missions: Stories of the last Moon men

    Harrison Schmitt is photographed next to the United States flag on the lunar surface during the Apollo 17 mission. The highest part of the flag appears to point toward our planet Earth in the distant background. Its red and white stripes are also reflected in the visor of Schmitt's helmet.
  • 'An escape from feeling lonely': The Seoul 'convenience stores' fighting isolation

    A lively and colorful pedestrian street in Seoul, filled with vibrant crosswalk designs, unique shops, and bustling activity. A woman stands in the middle of a zebra crossing in a winter jacket carrying the sign 'escape room, half price'
  • What we know about Israel's plan to take over Gaza City

    Palestinians hold out pots and bowls, jostling to reach the front of a line as they await meals distributed by aid groups in Gaza City
  • US shrugs off Gaza escalation - drifting further away from allies

    US President Donald Trump greets Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as he arrives for a meeting at the West Wing of the White House
  • Big Mags: The paedophile-hunting granny who built a heroin empire

    Mags Haney outside her home in the Raploch talking to two police officers. The photo from the mid 1990s shows Haney with short bleached blond hair and big earrings. She is wearing a pink cardigan and and orange t-shirt. A number of locals are standing around watching the scene
  • Summer Essential: Your family’s guide to the summer, delivered to your inbox every Tuesday

    concentric circles ranging from orange to yellow to represent the sun, with a blue sky background
loading elsewhere stories

Most read

  1. 1

    'JD Vance sends warning to UK' and 'Scam by me'

  2. 2

    'People are angry': Behind the wave of asylum hotel protests

  3. 3

    Prince Andrew book seals his fate for any return

  4. 4

    Elon Musk's AI accused of making explicit AI Taylor Swift videos

  5. 5

    Trump and Putin to meet in Alaska for Ukraine talks next week

  6. 6

    Jim Lovell, who guided Apollo 13 safely back to Earth, dies aged 97

  7. 7

    Faith, family and fish - the unlikely bond between JD Vance and David Lammy

  8. 8

    US diplomat says UK would have lost WW2 with Starmer as leader

  9. 9

    Sturgeon memoir describes arrest as 'worst day of my life'

  10. 10

    Police 'sat on information' before man, 80, killed

BBC News Services

  • On your mobile
  • On smart speakers
  • Get news alerts
  • Contact BBC News

Best of the BBC

  • Your latest reality TV obsession has landed on iPlayer

    • Attribution
      iPlayer
    Destination X
  • Jacob Elordi stars in explosive war drama

    • Attribution
      iPlayer
    The Narrow Road to the Deep North
  • Inside the front-line fight against cybercriminals

    • Attribution
      iPlayer
    Panorama: Fighting Cyber Criminals
  • A rare glimpse into the world of rope access

    • Attribution
      iPlayer
    Our Lives: High Stakes
  • Home
  • News
  • Sport
  • Weather
  • iPlayer
  • Sounds
  • Bitesize
  • CBBC
  • CBeebies
  • Food
  • Terms of Use
  • About the BBC
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookies
  • Accessibility Help
  • Parental Guidance
  • Contact the BBC
  • Make an editorial complaint
  • BBC emails for you

Copyright © 2025 BBC. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking.