Future of Female Presidency

In this article, Tessa shares her opinion on why the United States hates women.

The future of female presidency

By: Tessa Hager

From the beginning of time, women have been seen as a minority, even though they make up half of the population. They have fought for millennia to have the same rights as men and, once they gained those rights, they had to fight for equal pay. While it is believed by some that women have achieved equality, there is still a fight that will continue for years to come. However, women have many more rights now than they did even 50 years ago. So why, in nearly 250 years of the United States, have we never had a woman as our president?

women in stem

To fully answer the question of why we have never had a woman as the U.S. president, we must also ask why science, technological, engineering, and mathematical fields are still male-dominated. Is it because men are truly more capable? No. It is actually because females are not as encouraged from a young age as males are to be interested in STEM subjects. According to the International Journal of STEM Education, "women are often perceived to be less competent than men in STEM fields." With fewer girls being encouraged to pursue these subjects, fewer girls are genuinely interested in them and feel pressured to drop out. In an interview with the BBC, US tech firm boss MC Spano stated that “her own daughter requested to move down from her top set maths class at school because she was the only girl in it.” Girls and women feeling out-of-place in math and science fields is not a rare occurrence. Being outcasts from childhood discourages girls from contributing to what they are passionate about in their careers when they become women.

Photo Credit: Forbes

Women in politics

Photo Credit: Center for American Progress

The rise of women in government positions has increased, but the progression is slowing down each year. Not only is the progression slowing, but more countries are seeing a lack of women in their governments. According to UN Women, a United Nations organization that promotes women gaining equality, “the number of countries with no women in government has increased, bucking a downward trend seen the last few years.” The exclusion of women from making government decisions impacts all of the country’s citizens and further oppresses women from choosing to be ambitious. The less a country encourages (or even allows) women to feel safe enough to find careers, the fewer workers there are in the nation, and the worse the economy, which affects everyone. Having women as government officials can encourage younger women to pursue a career. In a survey conducted by US News, about 70% of people who took the survey (over 17,000 people from 36 different countries) believe that countries are better run by women. Julie Ballington, an advisor for UN Women, stated that female leaders have a “different style to politics and different policy focuses” than their male counterparts. Policies such as equal rights, quality education, and universal health care are talked about in politics more when women are leaders, which greatly benefits all citizens, but especially the middle and lower classes.

Choosing a Tyrant Over Qualified Women

Only Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris know the true devastation of losing an election to a convicted felon. At least one country in every region on the planet has elected a female leader at some point. Even countries in Africa have elected female leaders, yet the United States still chooses the easily-manipulated-by-Musk alternative. The Taliban, which is known for demolishing women’s rights and has made it illegal for girls in Afghanistan to receive an education, has mocked us for not being “ready to hand over the leadership of [our] great country to a woman” according to Latin Times.

Why should we allow small businesses to grow, lower college tuition/student debt, bring about more equality amongst LGBTQ+ people as well as women, improve our healthcare system, and ensure more equal opportunities for all? Instead, we can fire government officials (who work for the Forest Service and IRS), fire aviation workers so more planes crash and kill people (and then blame it on DEI), deport immigrants without truly checking if they are here illegally or not (and then post an “ASMR” video of these non-criminal human beings chained up as they board a very 1940s Germany-esque flight), defund and destroy the Department of Education, and raise taxes for the poor while lowering them for the ultra-wealthy? Not to mention “backing the police” whilst electing a literally convicted felon to run our country. America seems to only back the police when it comes to murdering Black people.

Then, to top it all off, Trump gets TikTok banned only to pretend like he has saved it in order to gain praise from younger generations, all as a distraction from the chaos and destruction he is causing. Welcome to the end of democracy and the start of an oligarchy, Republicans. Thanks for forcing me to rant.

Photo Credit: The New York Times

The future of the United States having a woman as our president seems bleak, but as Harris quoted Martin Luther King Jr., “Only when it is dark enough can you see the stars.” During the darkest times, we can see the people standing up against what is wrong. If we can refrain from retreating and ignoring the next four years, we can keep the hope. Hope is the driving force for everything.

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