Hillary Clinton has made history, becoming the first woman to run for president of the United States.
Whether or not you support Clinton’s politics (and today’s cartoon is indicative of the way some people may feel about the former First Lady, secretary of state and New York senator), it’s a milestone that a woman is within reach of the White House.
Of course, anyone is a better bet than reality TV star Donald Trump, for whom becoming “the leader of the free world” seems to be nothing more than a game.
But I digress. I’m old enough to remember when all nurses were female, doctors were male and no one could imagine that women would be flying commercial airliners.
In my early 20s, I decided I wanted to work in a restaurant. In those days, and for that particular restaurant chain, women worked as cocktail waitresses and hostesses. They were not bartenders, and they certainly weren’t cooks. I was an anomaly as the only female cook amongst an all-male kitchen staff.
Of course, a woman in power is nothing new around the world: we had a woman at 24 Sussex Drive, during Prime Minister Kim Campbell’s brief tenure. Pakistan and India have had female prime ministers, and no one is likely to forget the Iron Lady herself, Margaret Thatcher.
And yet, while many women in western society have the ability to be who or what they want, that is not the case for millions of women and girls around the world.
For many girls, the right to attend school is not a given. For many women, making the decision to have children is not up to them. Too many women around the world still do not have a voice. They don’t have a choice in anything they do. Honour killings and child marriages are still taking place. Male children are still favoured over daughters, and infanticide is a too common practice.
So while I rejoice at the possibility that a woman may soon be running the United States, in too many countries, there is not much cause for cheering.
I listened to an interview with Gloria Steinem recently on one of my favourite NPR programs, Fresh Air. Steinem of course was at the forefront of the women’s movement that began in the ‘60s and is still a powerful voice for women, at the age of 81.
She said when she turned 60, she found herself once again free of the “demands of gender” that began when she hit adolescence.
“Remember when you were 9 or 10 and you were this independent little girl climbing trees and saying, ‘I know what I want, I know what I think’?” she says. “That was before gender descended for most of us.”
I love those words because as the mother of a daughter, I want her to always believe that she can do anything, that she will not be held back because of her gender. At 11, she has no concept that girls or boys can’t have the same hopes, dreams and goals. So whether she wants to be a Lego designer (her current career choice) or an astrophysicist, she has those choices open to her.
Here’s to breaking the glass ceiling.
