As a feminist, I could not be more excited to see a woman running for president. As a woman, I would love to have a woman president. As a human, I understand the importance of a female striving to gain power and facing the public judgement and sexist attitudes with which she is regarded. Given all this, I will not be voting for her.
I don’t consider Hillary Clinton to be a bad candidate. I don’t see her as ill-fit or incapable. And she’s certainly a better option over Trump. But between her and Bernie Sanders, I am an avid Sanders supporter. To hear other feminists shaming me, and other female Sanders supporters, for choosing Sanders over Clinton is preposterous. Not only will I not vote for someone just because they share my gender, because that would be squandering my voting rights, I will not vote for her because I believe Sanders to be the hope this country, and female presidential candidates, needs.
Hillary Clinton is well-spoken and professional, and I agree with many of her ideals. However, she plays into the system. She is funded by large corporations and therefore one would be able to assume that even though she’d be a female in office, not much will change. She may end up just like our first black president in office. His democratic motions were mostly blocked and opposed, and many citizens believe he has done nothing with his two terms. He has had to battle Congress’ opposition almost the whole time. Fighting the way our elections and government run, who benefits based on how much money they have and the buying of favors and legal motions, cannot be successful when the candidate plays nicely into these aspects. Especially when a candidate has to because that candidate is a woman and the process and public will not give her a good chance otherwise.
This is precisely why I choose Sanders.
Bernie Sanders wishes to and will attempt to change this biased system. He’s accepted small donations instead of being funded by big businesses, and he has still managed to gain popularity. He beats Republican candidates by a larger margin than Clinton. He supports women's rights just as much as Clinton, and gender equality, as well as racial equality. Sanders, additionally, has outlined a plan and ways to achieve his goals. The idea that he can easily do this because he is a white man may be partially valid, however it’s much more than that. There’s a push from the younger generation, my generation, for significant change. Not in small policies and by pushing for the passing of certain laws, but to the overall structures that give enormous power to the 1 percent and leave not much else for the rest of us. I believe in the value of capitalism, but the way it is currently manifested in this country has created much too dramatic a difference in power and wealth. The majority suffers at the luxury of the very small minority.
If Sanders can revise this system, if men and women alike support him, there can be much change in elections and the government. There can be more balance. The effects of such changes are more opportunity and more acceptance of minorities and of women trying to gain power and higher positions. Simply placing Clinton in office without significant alterations to the system severely limits the impact of a female president. What tries to be a motion for inclusion becomes tokenism. It will seem as if we have made great progress in gender equality, but that would only be appearance. Clinton would become a placeholder, a reason for people to become complacent and think gender equality has made a major achievement.
I support Bernie Sanders so that someday a woman can run for president and not have to play into a system or cater to the polls and opinions of major corporations over the majority of citizens. I am behind Sanders so a woman in office can later truly mean something for the movement of gender equality. I cannot support a motion to rush a woman into office just because she is a woman, and I will not be shamed by other women because of my choice.
