It is time to put an end to the “it’s a man’s world” stigma and ultimately shatter the glass ceiling. America is in need of change, and I think voting a woman, especially Hillary Clinton, into the White House is the change our country needs.
Our democracy needs someone who knows how to run a country. Clinton is the most, if not only qualified presidential nominee to be the next President of the United States of America.
According to her biography, she has a law degree from Yale University, she was First Lady from 1993-2001, she was a New York senator from 2001-2009, and was President Barack Obama’s appointed Secretary of State from 2009-2013. She knows what she’s doing.
Haco Hoang, a professor of political science at California Lutheran University, brought up the fact that U.S politics has historically been and is still now male dominated.
Hoang said that by voting a woman into office, Clinton would share her experiences as a woman to provide a new identity and a new perspective to American politics.
America is a diverse country that is home to a myriad of cultures and yet, a majority of the country’s decisions are made by older white men. So, how can America claim that we are a progressive country when it’s still a “man’s world”?
Voting Clinton into office would begin that progressive movement. According to the Obama Administration Record for Women and Girls, women still only earn 77 cents for every dollar a man makes. Women also hold less than 25 percent of “jobs of the future” such as science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), according to the U.S. Department of Commerce Economics and Statistics Administration.
“One of the things that I really strongly believe in is that we need to have more girls interested in math, science, and engineering. We’ve got half the population that is way underrepresented in those fields and that means that we’ve got a whole bunch of talent…not being encouraged the way they need to,” Obama said in a statement for the White House’s Women in STEM initiative.
To see a woman as president, I believe Clinton will accelerate the opening of doors for women. As a young woman myself, to see a woman appointed to the highest standing shows me that I am capable of doing it all. I too can be just as successful as a man.
Though statistics show different, and the world tries to tell me my work is only worth 77 perecent of a man’s. I see Clinton and she shows me the opposite. Her intelligence, persistence, and success validates that I am equal and I deserve more than what the world makes of me just because I am a woman.
Though Clinton is a great role model, she isn’t perfect. People criticize her character, expose her emails and refer to her as a criminal. Clinton used a personal email when dealing with official government documents rather than a government email so, people want to say she jeopardized U.S. security and that she is corrupt.
First, we live in a society that believes one is innocent until proven guilty. Has Clinton been proven guilty or been convicted of a crime? No. She is innocent, end of story.
According to the BBC article, “Hillary Clinton emails – what’s it all about?” the interpretation of the Federal Records Act while Clinton was in office allowed the use of private emails, therefore she did not break any laws. People need to educate themselves before making accusations that are not true.
Moreover, according to the CNN article, “Hillary Clinton emails: Did she do anything wrong or not?” past Republican Secretaries of State Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice used personal emails while in office and were not called criminals or said to be corrupt. You cannot pick and choose only the battles that help out your personal opinions, that is hypocritical. If you didn’t judge the other two, then Clinton deserves the same reaction.
Clinton did make a mistake, but her character should not be attacked because of it.
“It was poor judgment absolutely, but there is a difference between me saying someone exercised poor judgment, and someone is corrupt. I would ask people to differentiate bad judgment on her part versus corruption. Those are two different buckets,” Hoang said.
These accusations reveal what Clinton is facing in this election and that is double standards. Hoang said that people are always going to question if Clinton is making an emotional decision because of her gender.
“I think what people forget is that anger is an emotion too, and no one seems to be upset when males are called angry, that just means they are very passionate, but for a women to be called angry is more like they are unstable. For a man it is a sign that they are more powerful,” Hoang said.
America needs a leader who can handle critique with grace and charm, much like that of a mother.
“If you want to talk about the ultimate task master, it’s working moms. As far as work ethic goes and balancing stuff, a mother is a good example of someone who can balance multiple priorities in multiple deadlines,” Hoang said.
I believe, as a woman, Hillary Clinton will deal with issues through a motherly point of view to avoid conflicts, and steer us away from war. This is why I am with her. One final thought: if we don’t stop him, we deserve him.
Maryssa Rillo
Staff Writer