At the beginning and even before, announcing their campaigns for president, powerful female politicians like Sens. Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris, Amy Klobuchar, Kirsten Gillibrand, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard and author Marianne Williamson have faced undue speculation.
A select group of pundits, politicians and voters have brought up the notion of electability, coming to this conclusion: A woman is not electable. Whether this conclusion is justly founded or not, it raises the question as to why a woman is not deemed electable.
The more pundits and politicians raise doubts about a woman’s ability to become president and break through the glass ceiling, the more voters assume that putting their support behind a female president is hopeless.
A great demonstration of this is that we are down to three women who have continued their presidential campaigns: Warren, Klobuchar and Gabbard. The other candidates have since dropped out of the race because it was not “their time.”
With this being said, I raise this question: If it is not “the time” for three female candidates, than how is it “the time” for a candidate like Joe Biden?
Though he is a white, heterosexual, older man (“presidential qualities” America seems to prize above all else), he has demonstrated that he is not the most electable candidate due to his incoherency, inflexibility and the fact that he has lost presidential elections in the past (he lost when he ran in 1988 and again in 2008).
Democrats, though claiming to be a party centered on intersectionality, inclusivity and progressive policies, are still more comfortable electing a white man over a woman.
Even though Pete Buttigieg has shown through his campaign success that America is ready to throw its support behind a member of the LGBTQ+ community, he is still a white man. American politics have not come that far, but that could and should change.
I am not dissuaded that a female president will fix the centuries of suppression, marginalization, colonialism, imperialism, disenfranchisement and discrimination that America has caused, but it would be a small step in the direction of progress.
Warren and Klobuchar, though on different ends of the political spectrum, have demonstrated that they can and will push through policies centered around equity and inclusion. Their campaign plans are factual, well thought out and adhere to the ideals of a broad set of people.
It is possible for America to elect a female president, not just because she is a woman, but because she is the best person for the job.