I think it's O'Brien that's stereotyping by assuming that Romney's use of this gender-neutral word is automatically meant to be a sexist slur!
You are right!
She is acting like a very touchy, very paranoid feminist.
Shannon O'Brien (Mrs. R. Emmet Hayes), Hillary Rodham-Clinton and Teresa Simões-Ferreira Heinz-Kerry have chosen to view Romney's words as an attack on women in politics.
O'Brien must tell all on husband's lobbying
By Joan Vennochi, 7/11/2002, Boston Globe, (excerpt from Google cache)
JUST LIKE John Henry Williams, the son of the late baseball great Ted Williams, state Treasurer Shannon O'Brien would love to put a close family member on ice. She cannot.O'Brien, the current frontrunner in Democratic gubernatorial primary race, is married to R. Emmet Hayes, a former state representative and, as of last December, a former lobbyist. O'Brien would prefer to leave the description of her husband at that. She cannot.
The voters have a right to know about her husband's business,