This upcoming election is the most important one yet.
Society has historically confined women to the roles of homemakers responsible for domestic tasks and childcare, while men have been regarded as the heads of households and primary earners.
On the totem pole of life, women, more specifically Black women, are always at the bottom. But I guess society just needed a strong foundation. Black women are always the backbone of movements, and when they feel or stand for something, they are going to do anything in their power to change it. No matter what obstacles are thrown their way. Somehow, they still stand strong, ready for the next fight.
That fight is NOW.
Of the 46 presidents in history, only one has been Black, and that president was Barack Obama. Even after America made history by electing a Black man to a position of high power, after Obama completed his second term, he has only been followed by white successors who filled his past position. After current President Joe Biden decided not to run for the 2024 Presidential Election, Vice President Kamala Harris was endorsed to be the new Democratic candidate. This selection has been deemed a great achievement once held by Shirley Chisholm, who made history in 1972 after becoming the first Black woman to compete for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination.
In addition to Harris’ historic nomination, she also made history by raising $81 million in 24 hours after announcing that she was running for president. Not only that, but she rallied various supporters of all races and genders who might not have supported the Democratic party if Biden was still running.
With threats of Republicans’ Project 2025 being enforced if their candidate, Donald Trump, is elected, voters seem more relieved if a woman like Harris is elected to fight for women’s rights. There are too many times when old white men are trying to tell us women what to do with our bodies, and it has to stop. From the Women’s Suffrage Movement of the 1800s to the agenda of Sexual and Reproductive Rights, women are seeking a seat at the table to capture a more prominent position in making choices that are important to women.
In Project 2025, one of the primary goals is to eliminate the abortion pill, mifepristone. The document advocates for the Department of Health and Human Services to “uphold a biblically-based, social science-reinforced definition of marriage and family.” Notably, in 2022, the Supreme Court revoked women’s constitutional protections for abortion, signifying a profound and deeply personal transformation in the lives of Americans after nearly 50 years under Roe v. Wade.
In 14 states, abortion is banned at all stages of pregnancy, and in three others, it is prohibited after about six weeks of pregnancy—often before women even realize they are pregnant. This restrictive legislation severely limits women’s reproductive rights and access to essential healthcare.
By voting, we can elect a person of a minority race and sexuality into office to fight for a platform that matters to the American population as a whole. If Harris does not win the presidency, we will only be moving back in time, and as she stated herself, “We’re not going back.” By going back, I am sure Harris is reflecting on times in history where women’s rights were ignored and Black Americans were omitted. Harris has taken a stand on supporting women’s rights to not fear discrimination in everyday tasks, a right to sexual and reproductive health and a right to earn a fair and equal wage.
Over the years, women have made major advances in politics, but the world is still far from equal. Electing Harris would possibly secure a woman in a place where the rights of women have been disregarded and placed at the bottom of an agenda historically dominated by a male group of decision-makers. I once remember reading a quote by the American writer and feminist Louisa May Allcott, “Women, they have minds, and they have souls as well as just hearts. And they’ve got ambition, and they’ve got talent as well as just beauty. I’m so sick of people saying that love is all a woman is fit for.”
Dare I say, we need to put Harris not only in a woman’s place but also in a “Black job” and elect her as the first female Black/Asian American President of the United States of America.