Nasty Women in White Pantsuits

Our glasses clinked in a virtual toast over zoom, in a gathering of like-minded Americans on the blue side of the “divide”, eager to see a change, to celebrate new leadership in the White House. We were a group of Indian women who have made a mark outside our homes, mostly in STEM fields. Leadership in Politics is a very different ballgame, with very different challenges. It isn’t everyday that we see a woman - of Indian descent, crossing all hurdles to climb up so high. It is a matter of great pride to see the many firsts in this election. We wanted to share our expectations from the new administration. Someone said, “Nothing profound ...looking for a straightforward change - a President who doesn’t lie (to our faces).” “The country needs to heal”, said another friend, others adding that the country divided for political gain needs to be unified.

On the eve of the news of a Biden-Harris victory, I experienced a shared sense of pride so intense, I could feel it in the air beyond the limitations of the virtual setting. Everyone was eager to share about the new veep-elect. “[She represents ] so many firsts”,  “So awesome that my two daughters have someone to look up to”, “She may be the first, but she will make sure she isn’t the last”, “With no family connections, she worked so hard - not just girls, but boys will look up to her achievements”. 

Minutes later, in Delaware, Kamala Harris walked onto the stage to deliver her acceptance speech with her usual confidence, dressed in a suffragette white pantsuit, which has been a symbol of women solidarity. In her speech, she drew attention to People Power, “We the people have the power to build a better future”, then attributing her success to her late mother Shyamala Gopalan, and so many women who paved the way for her  “...women who fought and sacrificed so much for equality, liberty and justice for all” and went on to encourage little girls who were listening to “dream with ambition, lead with conviction, and see yourself in ways that others may not simply because they have never seen it before”. To see her as the first Black, asian, woman VP, it instills a confidence that America values competence over identity. An inch closer in reducing the gender gap. 

The Gender Gap Index measures gender equality, based on the relative gaps between women and men across 4 key areas: health, education, economy, and politics. The value ranges between 0 (complete inequality) and 1 (complete equality). The US stands at the 53th spot, with all its neighbors - Canada, Mexico and Cuba - ahead of the US. The top 10 countries, with an index over 0.8, have had female leaders, with Vigdís Finnbogadóttir of Iceland becoming the first woman in the world to be democratically elected president in 1980. The US is in the company of nations such as China, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia and Saudi Arabia, who have not had a female head of state in modern times. The World Economic Forum recommends electing more women to leadership roles, of positions of power and decision making to close the gender gap.

Every time a woman steps closer to shattering the glass ceiling one can’t help wondering why America isn’t ready to elect a woman head of the state. People are quick to point out candidates use “the woman card”, quick to dismiss their stellar credentials and solid track record of real work. A TIME magazine article on this issue contends “It could be because the American political system is more of a popularity contest than other countries, which creates particularly thorny challenges for women leaders''. Kamala Harris applauded Joe Biden’s “audacity” to “break the substantial barrier that exists in our country and select a woman VP”.

We had an interesting dynamic in our family. For the longest time while growing up, my son was oblivious to the gender inequality that existed in the world. Watching both parents working in the technology field, sharing household responsibilities and living in the progressive part of the world where he saw equal rights and opportunities in his school and circle of family and friends, he was unaware of the gender gap that exists in the world. When my daughter worked for gender equality with an organization called GirlUp, he wondered why girls were being “favored”, and that help should be provided to anyone needing it, not just girls. As an adult, though more aware of the world, he continues to thrive in a gender equal ecosystem, having worked in a company like IBM, which had a woman CEO.  Though I am grateful that we live in the part of the society that allows the liberty and rights to women, I feel that the generation raised with this equality in a progressive bubble may not fully appreciate the continued struggles in areas where women have yet to break ground. When these challenges are brought to the forefront, they are sometimes misrepresented as using “the woman card” or "identity politics".

Women don’t always support women leaders either. During the Suffrage Movement, the seventy-two-year-long (1848-1920) battle for women's right to vote in the United States, there was a group of women who didn’t support the 19th Amendment that gave voting rights to some women. “Who will wash the dishes and raise the babies?” What these women missed, and many still do, is that equal rights allow the freedom of choice. Women are naturally nurturing, which does not mean there aren’t men who can be nurturing, or that some women may want to foray beyond their nurturing selves. If some women feel passionate about only washing dishes and raising babies, that is their choice. They should have complete freedom to do that - yet acknowledge that there may be others who may prefer other roles in their lives. It is ultimately about freedom of choice.

I think some people forget the simplicity of “Feminism”  - that it is about equal rights and equal opportunities. It is basically about freedom and liberty and choice and empowerment. Sometimes the word scares and pushes away some people due to the “male-hater”, “bra-burning” connotations. Feminism isn’t a zero sum game - it is about equity, fairness and balance. The WE forum claims that closing the gender gap is going to increase prosperity. Then there are people like Abby Johnson, an invited speaker at the Republican National Convention, who on the 100th anniversary of the Ratification of the 19th Amendment, proposed a “head of household voting” during RNC, then tweeted “I would support bringing back household voting. How anti-feminist of me.” Ironically, not all women understand what a privilege it is to have the right to vote. People like Abby Johnson, despite understanding feminism, use its negative perceptions to pander to a voting base to push society as a whole backwards. 

“I am proud to be a nasty, nasty woman”, said Julia Louis-Dreyfus, the Veep actor, at the Democratic National Convention. Three months later, it was a proud moment indeed to see a Nasty Woman, after Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Pelosi, Clinton, and Merkle take the stage in her white pantsuit !