Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan may or may not be pondering a run for the governor’s seat. But a September 5 Chicago Sun-Times story by Dave Mckinney, Fran Spielman  and Natasha Korecki asked Madigan “whether she could serve as governor and still raise her kids.”

It’s a deeply sexist question, one that is only posed to female politicians and candidates, a fact that Madigan pointed out in her response.

“’Wow. Does anybody ever ask that question?’ she said. ‘I’m very lucky to have the support of my family. My husband helps take care of our kids. But, I think more people should ask that of men running for office as well.’”

Although the reporters had asked a sexist question, and been called on it, they continued to stress how hard it was to be a mother and a politician, despite the fact that plenty of male politicians seem to manage just fine.

The story notes they: “Pressed further on whether she could simultaneously hold both jobs — governor and mom” and “Reminded [her] that being governor is a lot more demanding than attorney general.”

The Sun-Times story was so obviously sexist that even the Washington Post felt the need to call out such bad journalistic behavior.

We have asked the Chicago Sun-Times whether they believe they questions posed by McKinney, Spielman, and Korecki were appropriate and they have not responded to numerous emails and phone calls. Sexist media coverage cannot be changed if the paper won’t even acknowledge that its coverage is sexist.

We ask the Chicago Sun-Times to affirm that sexism has no place in their political coverage. The Sun-Times should apologize to Lisa Madigan for their sexist story and acknowledge that reporters should not treat woman candidates and politicians differently in their coverage due to their sex.

Only by calling out sexism in the media can we change the political landscape for all women.