I'm glad Obama won the nomination. But maybe even moreso, I'm glad Clinton even ran.
I remember talking with my mom in the car when I was really young. I asked her if a woman could be president. She said that there was no rule against it, but it had never happened. The conversation left me with this sense of wonder and hope. My mom said, "Someday..." I wondered as I got older if I'd ever see that someday in my lifetime.
In middle school, a male teacher---yes, a teacher--- told us he thought a woman could never be president. It made me so angry. It was as if he didn't realize what he was doing to this room full of students. For the girls who thought it could happen, he dashed our dreams. For those girls who didn't believe in women, he confirmed their lack of confidence. For the boys, he solidified the fact that only they would be the leaders of our country.
In college, I got a facebook account. A young woman I was friends with, who I thought I respected as a strong woman, joined a facebook group called something like, "Women shouldn't be president because they change their mind too much!" or some other pithy remark about women being unable to do the job. Not only was I underwhelmed by the tired and unimaginative PMS/uncontrollable emotions jokes, I was surprised than any woman would think this was funny, or even acceptable.
Clinton campaigned for president during the early days of me calling myself a feminist. I disagreed with her politics on some fronts, wanted the presidency to take a different pattern than Bush-Clinton-Bush-Clinton, and I was uncomfortable with her ties to big business and interest groups. I liked Obama.
But that little girl who has been waiting to see this since her mother told her it was possible, who wanted to prove a chauvinist teacher wrong, who wanted that young woman unaware of the power women to realize it... for that little girl turned feminist, I am so thankful for her campaign and sort of sad to see it end. I hope this doesn't give way to comments such as, "See? Women CAN'T be president!" We can do most anything, really. And Hillary has shown a new generation of women what is possible.
I hope this isn't a one-time thing. I hope I don't have to tell my nieces that one time, some years ago, a woman named Hillary Clinton almost did it. I hope I don't have to explain to her that not only is it legal, but it's possible. Men and women alike voted for her. I hope it doesn't end here.
But history isn't always linear. Progress isn't inevitable. Sometimes history is circular; rights are won, then taken away. Look at the attacks on Roe v. Wade, or Anita Bryant's effect on the first gay rights ordinances. We have to keep working to assure progress. Other women have to run. We have to support these women.
Her campaign was inspiring, but it also reminded me of the problems we still face. I heard a few, but very few, racialized comments toward Barack; but it seemed EVERY criticism of Hillary came down to gender. She was a bitch, a witch, she was PMS-ing, her hair was too masculine, along with her pantsuit. It was as depressing as the morning after Madame Speaker Nancy Pelosi first appeared and newscasters were discussing her designer labels and how good she looked for her age. There's still a long way to go.
But Hillary, whether or not I agreed with her politics, made some headway.
And for that, I have to thank her.