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It’s obvious that a woman can become president of the United States: this is 2024! No longer do we have to prove that women are capable of holding the highest office in our country, I said to myself on Election Eve.
But what seemed so obvious, was obviously wrong. A woman running for president lost Tuesday night, again—twice in the last eight years. Why? The expanding gender gap? Sexism? Male superiority? Masculine fears? All of the above? Or something else?
Women have shown they are accomplished leaders in an array of governmental offices: vice president, senators and representatives, ambassadors, governors, mayors, city council and school board members, etc. In the private sector, women have achieved leadership as CEOs of giant corporations, university presidents, scientists ranging from astrophysics to artificial intelligence, financial experts in banking, hedge fund managers, and as doctors and lawyers.
If a man had been the Democratic nominee instead of Kamala Harris, would he have won? Perhaps. Probably. Recent polls have shown that more than 40% of those voting for Harris did so as a protest against Trump, rather than a vote for Harris herself.
Recent surveys illustrate that the gender gap has widened; women maintained their years-long support for Democrats, but 15 percent more men switched to a GOP vote for Trump. Polls show that this is particularly true among Hispanic males, who switched to a vote for Trump rather than stay a Democrat.
Some men fear that if a woman gains so much power, i.e., being a president, their masculinity is somehow endangered, particularly for those who are high school graduates and frustrated that they are not advancing in their jobs or in wages, oftentimes leading to a lack of respect. Being “masculine” can be an entrenched message in the minds of many a man – an innate feeling that males have always been dominant and superior to women. Men are the masters, the leaders; women, the second sex—from the time God created Adam.
Some men may say, “Well, women are fine, great wives, but president? I just wonder if a woman can really stand up to other foreign male leaders, like Putin. You know how some are — they can be too aggressive, or too emotional. We male leaders want to win and get our way; women may want to compromise.”
Nonsense. These are generalizations, rationalizations and stereotypes about females that no longer apply to all of us.
It’s all about the men
Since this nation was founded, men have been the dominant sex. Our “founding fathers” established this country stating, “all men are created equal.” Indeed, history tells us, as John Adams rode off on his horse to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, his wife, Abigail, shouted out, “Don’t forget the women!” History acknowledges that John forgot the women.
It was 1859, when the 15th Amendment was adopted, that the Constitution finally defined voter status. The right to vote cannot be denied, “on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”
Women, again, were forgotten.
It wasn’t until 1920, when, after a long, hard struggle by women, including their incarceration, that the 19st Amendment was adopted, finally giving females the right to vote. This in a country which, from its beginning, had a constitution which began with “We the people.” I guess women were finally people.
During World War II, women, symbolized by “Rosie, the Riveter,” took over the jobs that males held in factories and in businesses, while the men fought bravely in the war. Went they returned, families were together again and women assume their traditional role.
Women came to the forefront in the sixties, inspired by such feminists as Simone de Beauvoir, Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinem. Women even became a targeted audience in advertising. Remember that ’60s ad campaign for Virginia Slims cigarettes? “You’ve come a long way, baby!” And women had.
Adopting an Equal Rights Amendment became a big issue. Yet despite a major effort in the 1960s and 1970s to enact the ERA, which would grant gender equity for men and women, particularly in the workplace, it had its opponents. A number of states approved of the amendment, but not the required three-fourths. In 1982 ratification time ran out so our constitution still does not grant women equal rights. Embarrassing.
Not that we would be the first country to have a woman leader—we easily recall Golda Meir of Israel, Margaret, Thatcher of England, Indira Gandhi of India, and Isabel Peron, from Argentina. But wait, there’s more: The list of women serving as president or prime minister is lengthy, and includes Ireland, Iceland, Norway, Yugoslavia, Rwanda, Haiti, Lithuania, Chile, Peru, Canada, Australia, Brazil, Denmark, South Korea, New Zealand, Finland, Portugal, Ukraine, Peru, need I go on?
We women today, living in a country founded more than two centuries ago, are still hoping that finally a female can be president of the United States. Women have proven themselves around the world that they can be competent, national leaders, just as well as their male counterparts. Alas, there is one country missing, one that has not had a female president — our own United States.
Don’t lose hope, I tell myself. Stay strong, keep up the fight, and don’t give up. Remember, our next presidential election is only four years away.
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