Being Wellesley’s “Hot Red Class of 2020” has its perks; not only do we get to have a super catchy graduation title, a feature on a Guardian’s article, but we also get to witness an alumna of 1969 (hopefully) break one of the last glass ceilings in gender inequality.
In considering the candidates of the 2016 Presidential Election, one question remains despite of all the drama: How valid is it to vote for Hilary simply because she is a woman? Obviously, the easy answer to that question is that it is valid, but it shouldn’t be all of it; after all, she is running to be the President of the United States, something that exceeds the mere mention of someone’s gender or race. In 2008, Barack Obama was able to break a glass ceiling by being the first African American president and now all boys of minority race across the United States can one day aspire to be the Commander-in-Chief. Unfortunately, that aspiration only applies to 50% of the American population. In such a period of frustration where women still earn 79 cents to every dollar that men make, I sometimes wonder whether we just need to have a female president for the sake of having a female president?
That was precisely how I felt during the January Presidential Election in Taiwan. Being a Taiwanese citizen who has been uninterested in domestic politics, I wasn’t in a place to judge the candidates objectively. Tsai Ing-Wen, the current Taiwanese President is not only the first female president, but also the first unmarried president – an idea that’s probably unimaginable in most societies – even though being married has no direct impact in how one governs. When the voting took place, I remember telling my parents that I just wanted a female president and that her party affiliation doesn’t really matter to me, because I felt that it is time for the world to recognize female achievement in high levels of leadership. Ever since her taking of office, there have been slight tensions between Taiwan and China. Tsai’s party, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has been known to be less friendly in terms of diplomatic ties to China and past intolerance of China in Taiwanese politics, hence has created tension between the two countries since her triumph.
I didn’t care for the tensions between the two countries, because all I wanted was to see a female being represented at the highest rank of politics. Was I justified to do that? Was I diminishing her as a candidate by ignoring all of her credentials and simply supporting her because she is a woman?
The truth is, I don’t know.
It is a reality, however, that this world can be benefited by the existence of more female leaders, but is it selfish of the feminist agenda to advocate for Hilary simply because she is a woman and ignoring her experiences as the Secretary of State or the First Lady? Madeleine Albright, a Wellesley alumna of 1959 and the first female Secretary of State, said in an endorsement for Hilary Clinton, “there’s a special place in hell for women who don’t help each other,” sending an underlying message that as women, we should be voting for Hilary, because she is a woman. Even though she has since the apologized for the statement and said that she misused it in context, there is a message out there, whether it came from the Hilary campaign or the feminist agenda — women should be voting for Hilary, because she is a woman. On the Wellesley campus, a similar message seems to be implied: Wellesley women should be voting for Hilary, because she is also a Wellesley woman. The message has been amplified on campus, because now we are not only responsible to support a member of our gender, we are supporting an identity that will be ultimately shaped by our alma mater.
Despite how insulted or attacked I felt by the underlying message, I cannot help but think that maybe there is more to the gender argument. As a woman, and I think many other women can relate, our identity as a woman isn’t just shaped by our biological differences. You can identify as a woman socially and mentally and be equally active in the discussion of what it means to be a woman. Being a woman means to have lived through the double standards that are in this world and to be constantly aware of the glass ceilings that exist in our society. Obviously, different women have different experiences due to their individual backgrounds, but sometimes the experiences do overlap and they aren’t simply matters of coincidence. These experiences with gender inequality can either decrease our desire to chase after what’s only socially acceptable for men; or it can give us a natural drive to fight injustice. We have seen this before in the Civil Rights Movement or in the fight to legalize gay marriage. Feminists or women in general are constantly fighting for causes that aren’t directly related to their own personal calling, because they know what it feels like to be socially inferior and denied of equal opportunities.
I support Hilary, not simply because she has a vagina or that she is the only alternative to Trump, but because I know that the limitations that have prevented women for centuries in all areas of life have already prompted Hilary to become one of the only female Secretaries of State, the only woman ever to be nominated as a major political party’s presidential nominee, and hopefully, the first female President of the United States.
