An argument can be made that the week of July 21-27, 2024 was “The Week of the Woman” with the return of Celine Dion and Simone Biles headlining at the Paris Olympics, but with one Woman in particular, out front and center, capturing international attention.
I contend that it is past time for women to take a place of prominent leadership at all levels of society; be recognized for past and present accomplishments; and to achieve gender equity with men. The time has arrived to elect a women of color to the Presidency of the United States!
If Kamala Harris breaks through the glass ceiling and is elected POTUS, she will have stood on the shoulders of many women, a few are pictured below.
Hillary Clinton, Harriet Tubman, Ruth Bader Ginsberg
Barbara Jordan, Madeleine Albright, Winona LaDuke
.In a Guest Opinion Essay for the NYT dated 7/23/24, Hillary Rodham Clinton wrote:
I know a thing or two about how hard it can be for strong women candidates to fight through the sexism and double standards of American politics. I’ve been called a witch, a “nasty woman” and much worse. I was even burned in effigy… While it still pains me that I couldn’t break that highest, hardest glass ceiling, I’m proud that my two presidential campaigns made it seem normal to have a woman at the top of the ticket.
Ms. Harris will face unique additional challenges as the first Black and South Asian woman to be at the top of a major party’s ticket. That’s real, but we shouldn’t be afraid. It is a trap to believe that progress is impossible. After all, I won the national popular vote by nearly three million in 2016, and it’s not so long ago that Americans overwhelmingly elected our first Black president. As we saw in the 2022 midterms, abortion bans and attacks on democracy are galvanizing women voters like never before. With Ms. Harris at the top of the ticket leading the way, this movement may become an unstoppable wave.
The Data
According to data from the 2020 U.S. Census, 49.2% (162,685,811) of the population were male; and 50.8% (168,763,470) were female.
According to data from the U.S. Department of Labor:
In 2020, the share of women who participated in the labor force fell by 1.2 percentage points to 56.2 percent, the lowest rate since 1987, and nearly 4 percentage points below the peak of 60.0 percent in 1999. By comparison, the labor force participation rate for men was 67.7 percent in 2020, down by 1.5 percentage points from the previous year and the lowest rate in the history of the series.
In 2020, women who were full-time wage and salary workers had median usual weekly earnings that were 82 percent of those of male full-time wage and salary workers.
If we want a tireless advocate, a tough prosecutor, and a warm, fun loving lady as POTUS, then the time has arrived to "put a woman in charge".
In celebration, I offer you this wonderful performance by Keb' Mo':
So it is time for American voters, regardless of age, to get out and support Brat.
CPW
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