why-the-us-is-yet-to-have-a-woman-president

In the last week of July, as President Joe Biden announced his decision to step away from the race while endorsing Kamala Harris as the Democratic Party’s Presidential nominee, fortune tellers and political watchdogs jumped to predict if Harris stood a chance against Trump. 

 

But when it comes to gender history, a far more significant question faces the nation; will Harris finally break America’s jinx? Of never having had a woman head the government.  

 

The development also spotlighted the massive gender disparity existing at the top. 

 

According to Pew Research Center analysis, fewer than a third of the UN countries have ever had a woman leader. 

 

In fact, currently, women make up a fairly small percentage of leadership roles in the UN member states. 

 

In these 193 member states, only 21% of Prime Ministers and 26% of Parliamentarians are women. Last year, only 13 of the 193 member states of the United Nations were led by women. 

 

Out of these 13, nine of the countries were led by the country’s first woman head of government, including Peru’s Dina Boluarte, Italy’s Giorgia Meloni, and Bosnia-Herzegovina’s Borjana Kristo. 

 

Ironically, we have had women head the government in supposedly patriarchal countries like Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh.  

 

Women who came close but didn’t make the finish line  

The first woman US President only remains a hypothetical assumption, so far. 

 

In 2020, the country came closest to having its first female president when the Democratic nomination contest originally featured a record six women candidates.  

 

But the most prominent of them all — Elizabeth Warren, Amy Klobuchar and Kamala Harris all dropped out. Once again adjusting the focus back to two males. 

 

But why? Hillary Clinton was a candidate for the Democratic nomination for President in 2008 but lost to Senator Barack Obama. 

In 2016, Clinton became the first woman to be a major party’s nominee for president and also the first woman to enter a presidential debate. 

 

She made it to the contest but didn’t make it to the finish line and lost to Donald Trump. Clinton has since then, fielded her theories for her loss in a book and several interviews, saying that she lost, “because of misogyny,” and things like even women voters abandoned her because she was not ‘perfect’.

 

Political analysts and social commentators agree that women typically counter negative perceptions and other social barriers.

 

Last year, former South Carolina governor Niki Haley made it to the Republican Party’s presidential primaries but this year dropped out of the 2024 presidential race after losing every state but Vermont.  

 

US has no dearth of women senators

 

Historically, there’s also been no dearth of “first ladies” who have had a strong influence on the Presidentship. From Rosalyn Carter, and Nancy Reagan to Clinton in the 90s. What’s baffling is that the US has no dearth of qualified women in politics either, considering record numbers serve in the House and the Senate. 

 

These positions are usually warm-up tracks leading straight to the presidential office. As per the Center for American Women and Politics, currently, there are 25 women members in the Senate.

 

Will Harris be different? 

 

Harris, many opine, is a different candidate from Clinton and has a different set of implications and issues to face. But her campaign has already raised $200 million through donations within a week since she first became the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee. 

 

She is also as feisty as they come and ready to give the shot, her hundred per cent. “I’ll tell you I’m ready to debate Donald Trump. I have agreed to the previously agreed upon September 10 debate. He agreed to that previously and now he is backpedaling. 

 

The voters deserve to see the split screen that exists in this race on the debate stage.”