Why Not Elect a Female President in the U.S.?
By: Mike Kaiser
Tags: Equity, Society And Culture, Gender, Gender Equality, Inequality

The time of the ‘good old men’s club’ is gone. That model is old and outdated. Move on!

Photo by Gayatri Malhotra on Unsplash

I am a white male 48 years old. Alright, I will be 48 in a few days. But I consider myself there. Enough mansplaining, right?

Back in 2016, I saw Hilary Clinton on the ballot and said to myself, “why not?” Furthermore, “why has it taken this long to elect a woman to lead our country?”

At this point, you may be wondering what is this all about? There is no ulterior motive here. Have you seen the latest Forbes list of 100 most powerful women? The range and caliber of women on the list?

Angela Merkel tops the list along with Christine Lagarde. These two powerful women are often seen in political circles along with Kamala Harris. America’s newly Vice President-elect Kamala Harris. Go, Kamala!

Other names that are not household names but worth mentioning are powerful women like Abigail Johnson — CEO of Fidelity Investments — since 2014. Or Carol Tome, who was elected in June of this year to CEO of UPS. Carol Tome brings a wealth of knowledge to the table from running Home Depot as their Chief Finance Officer for decades.

The election just passed caused me great excitement with the results. We are past due to have a female running our country. More women should be elevated to higher positions. Why does our Congress have such few women? That is not reflective of our society.

I was watching a video titled “8 Questions a Narcissist Cannot Answer” by the Psychiatrist Dr. Les Carter. Some men that hold power are real narcissists in many cases, which baffles me. Is giving control to others that difficult? Is the admission of imperfection that difficult?

While serving in the military, I can tell you that men are not so confident and cocky while getting their rear-end handed to them. The military breaks people and builds them up to be respectful citizens with qualities that lead to a productive society. However, the transition toward a greater number of female soldiers in combat has been difficult. We need to continue to increase the numbers in time.

The point I was trying to make about the military was that the following. All of the bragging, big talk, and confidence that women see men portray is a bunch of horse manure. When men talk amongst each other in private, the truth comes out. Many women in this nation know this to be true. But getting men to say this or show this publicly is a huge uphill battle.

Although I would go ahead and surmise that the conversation is getting better, more men need to speak out and promote equity among gender and races along with class too.

Each of us perform better when we operate in a more diverse and inclusive environment. The conversation has more perspectives and is wider to reach. Furthermore, having a diverse set of opinions is more reflective of society as a whole.

Yes, there was divisiveness across the nation. And we have none other than the ‘narcissist-in-chief’ President Trump to thank for that if there is one benefit (and I mean only one — sorry, I did not like the man as President), that is that President Trump did bring the conversation on equity (race, gender, and income inequality) to the forefront.

The conversation has started and will hopefully not be put back into the box. A conversation that will inevitably be painful, awkward, and short in many instances. Although, if the conversation is not brought to the forefront, then the issues will not be dealt with.

My wife reminds me of my ‘white privilege’ quite frequently. I am unable to understand this is a common phrase that I hear in my house. We had a COVID-19 baby boy this year. He is now 9 months old. Kayla said to me the other day: “I did not think that I would have a boy. But now I get to teach this boy how to respect women and others around him.” I support that one hundred percent.

We have been watching a fair amount of Disney movies lately. Some classics. The theme of racism is quite apparent in them. At the beginning of each film, Disney now has a disclaimer that promotes the recognized discriminatory content of their films. A small change that will promote discussion moving forward into the future. How?

Kids ask millions of questions. My baby boy is not yet talking but making sounds. He just started crawling and does not stay still during the day. I highly doubt that once he starts reading that the Disney disclaimer will go unnoticed. That discussion is coming in the future. How Kayla and I handle that discussion will help change the future.

Side Note: women are amazing human beings that are able to produce life. Further, the nurturing ability of a mother is undervalued by society. I am continually amazed at Kayla’s ability to operate while pregnant and post-pregnancy. Mother’s are amazing.

I don’t see myself in that position…

One more diversion worth noting concerning ‘white privilege’ is that both Kayla and I work at a university. The other day I was talking to a colleague about using apps in the lecture. Specifically, Kayla uses an anonymous question and answering app in the virtual classroom to take a poll. She teaches chemistry.

She uses ‘slido app’ to poll students on various themes and concepts to promote discussion while keeping anonymity. The students feel more comfortable giving answers that might be incorrect in front of their peers. The app allows them to do so anonymously.

He responded that the app she used was not desirable for him. I found that fascinating and inquired as to why that was the case? He said that having students ask questions — any questions in front of their colleagues promotes equity. Yes, there is no anonymity. When a student asks a great question, other students realize that the student asking the question ‘looks and talks like them.’

This is a point of difference in opinion. Although, what is not a point of difference of opinion is that a little girl or a female starting her career can look at Vice President-elect Kamala Harris and say: That lady looks like me. I can be a Vice President someday. Awesome!

As I mentioned above, the Forbes list of 100 most powerful women serves as such a place for girls ranging from elementary school age to young female professional workers to aspire to greatness. And I mean greatness. I have major amounts of respect for the battles that each of them has faced climbing the career ladder in their respective fields and countries.

Society’s Issues?

If society deems the issues to be at the forefront, then the issues will be entertained. An example of the current election is climate change. Climate change has always been lingering in the background, threatening our existence. Although, without any solution that is attainable, the conversation has been lost in political rhetoric, among other avenues of importance.

The election of 2020 brought out a host of issues, and climate change was one. With the realization that investment firms on Wall Street are starting to divest from fossil fuel companies, the message is being heard. Consumer spending and commentary on social media are super powerful.

What has been reported on repeatedly but not really carried (or entertained) by the popular news is the reality that large fossil fuel corporations (i.e., Royal Dutch Shell and BP) are investing in renewable energy. The transition is partially being fueled by these large corporations. Their shareholders stand to reap large profits from investments in the transition. Oil is not forever. From the standpoint of an oil corporation shareholder, the question remains: What is profitable to our corporation?

Consumers drive change. It is that simple. If you don’t buy it, the corporation cannot make money. Shareholders don’t profit. That is a troubling thought to any CEO.

If a consumer states that he/she will not purchase a given product from a popular food vendor — say McDonald’s (as occurred in Europe) due to a questionable chemical sourced for their products. The result will be that McDonald’s will find a replacement chemical that is less dangerous to consumers. Consumers have greater power than they believe in swaying large corporations.

These two issues are among the past commonly heard problems with big corporations. Although, the time has come to address these longstanding issues. Let us not wait to entertain the inequity across society that has been brought to the forefront over the last 4 years (plus many). We have started the discussion. Let us as a society give the discussion legs on which to move to action looking into the future.

Human beings have created the ability to observe the gases on far off planets like Europa with scientific instruments. From that data, scientists can decompose the types of molecules that are present. Some of which might suggest that life is possible on that planet (not necessarily Europa). If we have that capability, then why can’t we enact meaningful change — equitable change here on Earth?

My wife’s reaction to the election results was, “Another old white male elected to office…Why not elect a woman to be President?” I have to agree that the time has come. Let us change the course of the future by embracing the new Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.