--- title: Obama's Female Staffers Put Shine Theory to Test description: Back in 2008, female Obama staffers noticed that they were the workplace minority, so they decided to change things—en masse canonical: https://time.com/4493715/obama-staff-shine-theory/ author: Kastalia Medrano article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-09-14T18:32:37.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T09:03:22.914Z og:title: Obama's Female Staffers Make Shine Theory Shine og:description: Even under a feminist president, women used this tactic to make themselves heard og:url: https://time.com/4493715/obama-staff-shine-theory/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd3677d614370184b/6988a608428a9e6cabcd4420/obama4.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: President Obama Meets With His Nat'l Security And Public Health Teams In White House og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Obama's Female Staffers Make Shine Theory Shine twitter:description: Even under a feminist president, women used this tactic to make themselves heard twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd3677d614370184b/6988a608428a9e6cabcd4420/obama4.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Obama's Female Staffers Make Shine Theory Shine > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=1a16e03d-e9af-4614-ae71-d103dd6f1401&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) by [Kastalia Medrano](https://time.com/author/kastalia-medrano/) ## Kastalia Medrano Sep 14, 2016 6:32 PM UTC  Presiden Obama delivers remarks to reporters before meeting with (L-R) National Security Advisor Susan Rice, Homeland Security Advisor Lisa Monaco, Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Matthews Burwell and other members on Dec. 12, 2014 in Washington, DC. Presiden Obama delivers remarks to reporters before meeting with (L-R) National Security Advisor Susan Rice, Homeland Security Advisor Lisa Monaco, Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Matthews Burwell and other members on Dec. 12, 2014 in Washington, DC. Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images by [Kastalia Medrano](https://time.com/author/kastalia-medrano/) ## Kastalia Medrano Sep 14, 2016 6:32 PM UTC If you haven’t heard of it, the concept known as [Shine Theory was put forth by Ann Friedman in 2013](http://nymag.com/thecut/2013/05/shine-theory-how-to-stop-female-competition.html). It essentially holds that when you meet a woman who is rad, you should befriend her rather than view her as competition. Though you might be stuck in the trap of thinking that there’s a finite amount of shine for women in the world and that she’s sucking up what could be yours, you’ll find that her company actually makes you shine brighter. Rising shine [lifts all women](http://motto.time.com/4369778/obama-biden-state-of-women/), and so forth. [Politics is still an overwhelmingly male career path](http://nautil.us/blog/what-do-women-want-in-a-political-career), and that holds true at all levels of the field, even under [feminist leaders like President Obama](http://time.com/4369002/barack-obama-united-state-of-women-summit/). Back in 2008, female Obama staffers quickly noticed that they were the workplace minority and being categorically passed over in meetings. This would have been enough to make anyone—regardless of gender—insecure and competitive, but the female aides had the solidarity and foresight to fight for the bigger picture. [According to the _Washington Post_](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2016/09/13/white-house-women-are-now-in-the-room-where-it-happens/?mc%5Fcid=23f41632c6&mc%5Feid=4cd64fb794&postshare=6251473762897800&tid=ss%5Ftw&wpisrc=nl%5Fdaily202&wpmm=1), “…female staffers adopted a meeting strategy they called “amplification”: When a woman made a key point, other women would repeat it, giving credit to its author. This forced the men in the room to recognize the contribution — and denied them the chance to claim the idea as their own.” BOOM. Per an anonymous female staffer, the women began doing this on a daily basis, and all the president’s men took notice. Lest you think this use of Shine Theory is just a feel-good soundbite without any practical ripple effect, I’ll also leave you with this tidy lil _Post_ nugget: “During Obama’s second term, women gained parity with men in the president’s inner circle; Clinton has actually had women outnumber men at times among her senior staff.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4493715/obama-staff-shine-theory/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4493715/obama-staff-shine-theory/"},"headline":"Obama's Female Staffers Make Shine Theory Shine","datePublished":"2016-09-14T18:32:37.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T09:03:22.914Z","description":"Even under a feminist president, women used this tactic to make themselves heard","url":"https://time.com/4493715/obama-staff-shine-theory/","keywords":["motto"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd3677d614370184b/6988a608428a9e6cabcd4420/obama4.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Kastalia Medrano","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/kastalia-medrano/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd3677d614370184b/6988a608428a9e6cabcd4420/obama4.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President Obama Meets With His Nat'l Security And Public Health Teams In White House","caption":"President Obama Meets With His Nat'l Security And Public Health Teams In White House","creditText":"Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/tag/motto/","name":"motto"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4493715/obama-staff-shine-theory/","name":"Obama's Female Staffers Make Shine Theory Shine"}}]}] ```