There are at present solely 26 acknowledged states in the world which have a girl as chief. The glass ceiling nonetheless stays unbreakable in nationwide management positions, even in the most superior nations. The United States was shut to breaking it in 2016 and will achieve this definitively on November 5, with the vice chairman and Democratic presidential candidate, Kamala Harris. A profile that already broke down stigmas virtually 4 years in the past, each for being a girl and for her Indo-African-American ancestry, when she was designated Joe Biden’s quantity two.
And though at no time has she wished to mark the worth of her determine due to these two particularities, her candidacy for the White House represents far more than the chance of the most important world energy internet hosting its first feminine president: Harris additionally symbolizes the various to the retreat of equality insurance policies which his opponent, the magnate and Republican Donald Trump, threatens to increase if he comes to energy.
That has been considered one of the backbones of his whole marketing campaign. In entrance of Make America Great Again (“Make America Great Again”), Harris proposes a glance to the future together with her We’re not going again (“We’re not going again”). “Unlike what occurred with Hillary Clinton eight years in the past, I believe the American voters and the Harris marketing campaign itself are in a distinct second,” he tells 20 minutes Luisa Garciaprofessional in feminine management, equality and enterprise administration at the consulting agency Llorente y Cuenca (LLYC).
For Garcia, that the Democratic candidate is a girl, in this case it has not been an attacking flank nor a purpose per se for which to be chosen. “Another factor is that their place on ladies’s rights and, particularly, reproductive rights, have performed an important function in the marketing campaign,” she says. In that sense, the LLYC professional explains that, whereas Clinton’s candidacy in 2016 was far more about her profile and persona, in the case of Kamala Harris she is focusing to a larger extent on American society as a complete. her as a public servant throughout her skilled profession.
A path for the subsequent generations
Because, at 60 years outdated, Harris is greater than used to first occasions. She was the first racialized district legal professional and the first lady to function legal professional normal in the state of California. She additionally made historical past by being the first Indian-American to serve in the Senate and, 4 years in the past, being the first feminine vice chairman of the United States. “Although I could also be the first lady to maintain this place, I can’t be the final. Because all the little ladies who’re watching this at the moment can see that this can be a nation of potentialities,” she stated throughout her first tackle to the nation as vice president-elect.
That is one other differentiating level of the Democratic candidate. It represents the chance of change and progress in the direction of a rustic that elects its first feminine chief, opening the means for many who come after. “That normalization is especially vital for ladies of all generations, however very particularly for the youngest, due to what it represents to see ladies in positions of energyand much more so when they’re African-American,” says García.
“The key to these elections is mobilization, in order that no voter stays at residence”
Although, in accordance to the accomplice and Global Director of Operations at LLYC, Gender is not going to be considered one of the points that divides the voters in the November elections. “Yes, it’s going to play a really decisive function in sure layers of voters, particularly in the skill to activate them. In the finish, the key to these elections is in mobilization, in guaranteeing that no voter stays at residence,” García emphasizes. , which insists that considered one of the figuring out elements could also be the African-American vote, because it maintains that the Democratic man now not penalizes the proven fact that she is a girl as maybe he might when Clinton was a candidate.
It is, as García emphasizes, a fascinating paradox: The proven fact that Kamala Harris might turn out to be the first feminine president of the United States is one thing of nice relevance, however, on the different hand, if that occurs, It will occur at a time when this issue has barely been revealed.
A change for the worldwide panorama
A victory for Harris would additionally indicate an important step ahead in the world order. Paloma Romanprofessor of Political Science at the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM) and member of the Gender and Politics Research Group (GEYPO), factors out that the Democratic candidate implies a “crucial asset.” “There is little question that having a girl at the head of an influence like the United States would drastically change the worldwide panorama, as a result of The different nations that may problem the US for management are all the time ruled by males“he argues.
The political analyst tells this newspaper that, in addition, the reality that there’s a lady in the highest decision-making place “in the most vital nation” will, in flip, open different “smaller doorways.” “Doors which are additionally wanted to make sure that she will not be the solely lady who will get there,” she says. In brief, he provides, the visibility that the US presidency has, its “capability for maneuver”, the “symbolic drive” it represents, its worldwide function… all of this may be “an important foundation for a ladder that opens up different alternatives for ladies who’re nonetheless denied them.
“Despite the sexism that exists in the nation, and exactly due to that, a victory for Harris could be an important asset”
At the nationwide degree it might additionally indicate a big change. “It could be the first time {that a} lady reaches the White House as president and, due to this fact, It would signify a related shift inside a society that could be very polarized proper now, and the place, actually, till now there has not been the chance of any lady reaching that prime. Despite the sexism that exists in the nation and, exactly, virtually due to that, it might be an important asset. It would entail the starting of another modifications that will be good for North American society,” says Román.
Stop the anti-abortion wave
Now, a girl accessing a place of energy doesn’t all the time have to imply that she essentially advocates for equality. Harris has not been very forceful on most of the points which are in the public debate, though she has been blunt on the problem of abortion, a proper in decline in the United States after the annulment of the historic 1973 ruling often called ‘Roe. vs. Wade’, which till 2022 assured the constitutional proper to voluntary interruption of being pregnant.
The whole problem of reproductive rights has been a transparent flag in his marketing campaign and is a really related problem in present American politics. “We nonetheless discover in our analyzes that It is feminine management that speaks the most about equality and is most dedicated to it.in contrast to males. This is an efficient purpose for there to be ladies in positions of energy, though the supreme is that there could be extra males speaking about equality and extra ladies speaking about the financial system,” emphasizes García, from LLYC, who emphasizes that Harris has promised to “cease the wave “anti-abortion” of the United States and shield that proper by way of federal laws, that’s, that binds all states.
The query, in the end, is whether or not the United States is ready to have a girl at the head of the White House. “It relies upon, as a result of there are lots of United States,” says Román. Without a doubt, the proven fact that the Democrat manages to turn out to be the nation’s first feminine president will enrage Trump voters, who’re in no way keen to see a girl resolve the way forward for the nation. Although, as García says: “When we are saying if nations are ready for a feminine president, Basically what we’re saying is that if they’re keen to select a girl chairwoman”.
