Story highlights That there is sexism in politics, in business, in the world, is beyond dispute, Frida Ghitis says

When Bernie Sanders shouts, he's expressing his anger at injustice, she says

When Hillary Clinton does it, she has a character flaw, Ghitis says

Frida Ghitis is a world affairs columnist for The Miami Herald and World Politics Review, and a former CNN producer and correspondent. Follow her @FridaGhitis. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.

(CNN) When I heard the legendary journalist Bob Woodward's analysis of Hillary Clinton's performance, I was taken back to a moment in my career many years ago when a top CNN executive (who no longer works there) explained that for on-air delivery to resonate as authoritative and credible it should come in a low tone. In other words, only a man's voice sounds like it tells important truths.

Woodward, in case you haven't heard, brought his decades of expertise to the MSNBC show "Morning Joe" to shed light on the difficulties faced by the once-undisputed Democratic front-runner. He opined "a lot of it, with Hillary Clinton has to do with style and delivery, oddly enough." Then he explained, "She shouts. There is something unrelaxed about the way she is communicating and I think it just jumps."

Frida Ghitis

The political savants around the table lined up behind the argument, because that is what people do. Host Joe Scarborough interjected, "Has nobody told her that the microphone works?" And, despite valiant efforts by Cokie Roberts to note people raise their voices in political rallies, Woodward persisted. "I'm sorry to dwell on the tone issue," he said thoughtfully, "but there is something here where Hillary Clinton suggests that she's almost not comfortable with herself."

Let's give them credit at least for not calling her "shrill." That's because the word shrill has become a cliché for sexist commentary. In the political comedy "Veep," when someone uses the word shrill, women knowingly roll their eyes. It turns out that women's tone of voice, something they have limited control over, is routinely brandished against them in politics and business, a charge that is a few steps away from criticizing their choice of chromosomes.

The transparent sexism, along with Clinton's poor performance with women, led former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright to declare this weekend at a Clinton campaign rally that "there is a special place in hell for women who don't help each other." Women, in fact, are free to choose among the candidates. But like all voters, they should ensure that insidious sexism, theirs or the pundits', does not waft in to cloud their judgment.