The morning after last week’s presidential debate, one of my professors spent class stressing the importance of voting. She then told us about her mother, who is turning 102 this year.
When her mother was born, women didn’t have the right to vote. They didn’t until she turned six years old. Voting is a privilege that she does not take for granted and a responsibility that she does not take lightly. My professor said she has never missed an election.
Women’s suffrage was granted nationally in 1920, less than one hundred years ago. I repeat: women gained the right to vote less than 100 years ago. There are women alive today who were not able to vote at every point in their lives. Even more daunting, legal barriers designed to keep African-Americans from voting did exactly that, and most African-American women, as well as other minority groups, were unable to exercise their right to vote until much later than 1920. Not until the 1968 election did African-American voters cast their ballot with apparent ease: as a result of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, African-American voter turnout in the South, where racially biased voting restrictions were most oppressive, was just 44 percent in 1964 and 72 percent in the rest of the country. Basically, women of all races were not able to vote freely until less than 50 years ago.
As a direct result of gaining the right to vote only within the past century, there is a distinct lack of female and minority representation in the United States government. Women currently hold just over 19 percent of the seats in Congress, while only 17 percent of Congress is made up of minorities of either sex. Only four females, three of whom were white, have ever served as Supreme Court justices. And, in case you haven’t noticed, America has never seen a female president of any ethnicity.
This is the precise reason that I cannot agree with the sentiment that voting for Hillary because she’s a woman is not a good enough reason. People claim that being a female alone does not qualify one to be president, that a female candidate should not automatically win the votes of female constituents, that a candidate’s sex does not matter and should not affect an election’s outcome.
It would be wonderful if this were the case, if sex truly did not matter. Unfortunately, sex seems to matter a great deal, considering we’ve only ever had male presidents.
In what capacity do women have equal rights if they lack equal representation? Why is it acceptable that each of the 43 presidents who have led this diverse nation has been a man? Why is it acceptable that all but one of them have been white? Why have all of them possessed Christian roots? The backgrounds of the American people represent a wide spectrum; the backgrounds of their leaders, however, do not.
As a woman, Hillary Clinton would be more sensitive to issues concerning women. Is it wrong for a woman to vote with her own interest in mind? Is voting in one’s own interest not the premise of political participation? During the course of her campaign, she has expressed interest in closing the wage gap among women and minorities, providing paid family and medical leave, supporting Planned Parenthood and ensuring the right to an abortion. These are topics of importance for a great many female voters.
I’m not saying that Hillary Clinton is my ideal candidate. If this election cycle has taught me anything, it’s that I’m not sure such a thing as an ideal political candidate actually exists. But I will reiterate that, as a woman, she is prone to be more aware of and sensitive to issues that concern women than her opponent, as demonstrated clearly in the first presidential debate.
During the debate, Donald Trump stated that Clinton is unfit to be president because “she doesn’t have the looks; she doesn’t have the stamina.” Something tells me that if Trump were running against another man, then looks would have little to do with determining who is more qualified for the presidency.
On stage, Clinton pointed out that Trump referred to former Miss Universe Alicia Machado as “Miss Housekeeping” because of her Latina background. Based on his blatant sexism during the debate and throughout the course of his campaign, any intersectional feminist, or self-respecting woman, for that matter, ought to think twice before voting for Trump over Clinton.
Instead of voting to make America great again (Again? When? Less than one hundred years ago, when women couldn’t even vote?), I plan on voting to make America greater than it ever was by diversifying the nation’s leaders and electing the first female president. I’m voting for a woman … because she’s a woman.
DO YOU RAELLY WANT THE FIRST WOMAN PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES TO BE A COMPLETE FAILURE?
Look at Clinton’s disastrous performance as the secretary of state:
The complete failure of her policy in Iraq that created ISIS which we all will have to suffer for many years to come
The complete failed policy with Iran that will lead us within 10 years (or earlier) to a nuclear Iran exactly the same way Bill Clinton brought us Nuclear North Korea
The reset policy with Russia ending with Russia invasion to Georgia/ Crimea
Syria Red-line & do-nothing policy leading to the hundreds of thousands dead citizens and the comeback of Russia to the middle East
Egypt policy to abandon Mubarak, almost failed into the hands of the Muslim brotherhood
Her push for intervention in Libya led to total chaos and Muslim extremists controlling the country
Bengasi, the death of the 4 Americans including the ambassador and the shameful lies that followed
The failure to handle China
She could serve as a text-book example for a complete failure of a secretary of state
And we didn’t get yet into the unbelievable corruption and pay for play between her state department role and huge amounts of streams of money (over Billion dollars) to her foundation and to her pockets, this can not happen without huge corruption, and on top of it most of the money went into building an organization, one can guess for what purpose….
And the unbelievable corruption in her usage of private server, against the law, to keep all the above information out of the reach of the American people in the expense of the country security and risking us and our soldiers
And inflicting unbelievable corruption over the FBI investigation and DOJ conduct.
And how can a politician serving as the secretary of state evolve from an “utterly broke” status into an over 100 Million of wealth, You can do it ONLY if you are corrupted up and over your ears and if you turn the USA into a third world shameful Banana-Republic.
DO YOU REALLY WANT HER TO BE THE FIRST WOMAN PRESIDENT?
Did you pay attention to the Clinton campaign?
She served as the secretary of state, she served as a senator, she served as the first lady, and the main and may be the only argument she can give you to vote for her is that Trump does not talk nicely or insulted people?
I would argue that Clinton and the democrats expectations that this argument will cause women to vote for her and “forget” that she is a complete failure is more insulting for women then anything Trump said or did not say.
Thanks for taking the time to read it
Kayla Kavanagh, voting for a presidential candidate solely on their gender, religious affiliation, gender identity or race, is a stupid idiotic statement! You should vote for a person because he or she has the capability to do so and his or hers ideals, morals and policies align to what you as a voter want! We should learn from our last elections. Many voted for Obama because he is half black, yet they ignored his shady policy ideas and his inconsistencies on the affordable health care act! We all know how that ended up…For example, take a look. During his time in the White House, median household income, when adjusted for inflation, has been completely flat and hasn’t actually recovered fully since he’s been in office.
The labor participation rate is near a 40-year low and has been under 63 percent now for 21 consecutive months. And instead of putting people back to work, under this president, the number of Americans dependent on government is surging. A near record $45 million Americans currently receive food stamps. That is an increase of 42 percent since January 2009.
As for poverty, the president talks about helping every American get ahead, but this again has not been the case. Since 2008, the poverty rate has shot up 17 percent. 46 million Americans now live in poverty, and the dream of owning your own home has been made a nightmare under Obama for many Americans. The rate of those who own a home has now dropped several percentage points. Now, we also saw record numbers of foreclosures during his presidency. 2011 was the worst year on record for home sales.
And under the president, our national debt has reached very dangerous levels. In January 2009, when he took office, it stood at $10.6 trillion. Well, it’s almost $19 trillion today, a 77 percent increase. By the time he leaves the White House, he will accumulate more debt than every other president before him combined. And because of this massive accumulation of debt, for the first time ever, America’s credit rating was downgraded in 2011.
So you see, you might dislike Trump for whatever the reason…but Hillary’s PROVEN corruption makes her unfit to hold ANY high ranking political position in our great nation!