“I simply ache from smiling. Why are women expected to beam all the time? It's unfair. If a man looks solemn, it's automatically assumed he's a serious person, not a miserable one.”
-Queen Elizabeth II
No one expects the job of a civil servant to be an easy one, but for half of the population that job isn’t just a job, it's a battle.
In the most recent post of Humans of New York, Hillary Clinton sat in front of the camera and gave an account of a day at school where she was waiting to take an admissions test at Harvard. She tells how the men began to yell at her about how she didn't need to be there, or she could be doing something else. A young Clinton, still nervous for the test, was silent, but a now 68 Clinton reflects and says, “I know that I can be perceived as aloof or cold or unemotional. But I had to learn as a young woman to control my emotions. And that’s a hard path to walk. Because you need to protect yourself, you need to keep steady, but at the same time you don’t want to seem ‘walled off.’”
Clinton walks the thin line of having to shed off any feminine characteristics that would make her appear weak while at the same time defend herself from those who call her uncaring. She is criticized for showing too much emotion and is called emotionless in the same sentence.
She gets interrupted during debates and belittled in interviews, and even after all that she still wants to serve this country.
Many Trump and Bernie supports might call her story another exaggerated lie to bolster support before the election, but Clinton’s story is not unique to Clinton; it is the story that has been told and retold by every female politician.
Hillary Clinton is shrill. Michelle Obama is just a beautiful outfit. Ruth Bader Ginsburg is decrepit. Even the Queen of England has been told to smile. There seems to be no end to this blatant sexism.
The purpose of this article is not to argue that these women have been wronged and it's not to try to suggest a solution. The solution is obvious and the argument is nonexistent. The reason for this article is to praise these women.
I cannot imagine what it is like to have a job as important as running and maintaining a country and only being reduced to a smile.
Hillary Clinton is not a candidate; she is a fighter. She has fought tooth and nail to even be considered a candidate of the democratic party. She has gone through scandals and trials and has come out stronger.
I am certainly not defending some of the more questionable things Clinton has done in her career, but in her defense, she is a politician and she certainly isn't the most corrupt politician we’ve had.
In the end, Hillary won't win because she is a woman she'll win because she is the most qualified candidate running and she believes she knows what's best for this country. Anyone who wants to belittle her success because she is a woman will have to get in line behind the dozens of reporters, politicians, and voters who have already stepped up to do that job.
When faced with breaking the glass ceiling one should expect to get cut. Change won't come easy and it won't come willingly. That's why I am thankful there are so many women fighting the fight. If Hillary Clinton wants to cross the finish line to the White House bloodied and battle-weary she will happily do it.
