After a long struggle beginning as far back as 1840, women finally stepped up another rung on the ladder to equal rights with men when they gained the right to vote in 1920.
If only the pioneers of women's rights knew that, in 2015, women still would not receive equal pay to men (earning 75 cents for every dollar a man makes), though we've had the right to vote for 95 years. Perhaps equally shocking is that, since our country's founding 239 years ago, a woman has never held the office of President of the United States.
Roughly 43 women have run for president over the years. That's one less than the number of men who have held the office.
During the women's liberation movement, a push to be viewed as equal to men captivated women. Many believe men and women to be equal now, in 2015. But if men and women are truly equal, why hasn't there been a female president?
Of course, the primary female candidate and the lead for the Democratic nomination in the 2016 presidential campaign is Hillary Clinton. Previously, she campaigned opposite Barack Obama for the Democratic nomination, supporting him later. After much deliberation on whether to run for office in 2016, Clinton finally announced her decision to campaign.
Compared to other women who have run for president, Clinton has an impressive resume, not only as former First Lady, but also as Secretary of State and a New York senator. Though Clinton faced the Benghazi scandal and, recently, disapproval for using a private email address, she is nonetheless a capable woman who has been around the block a few times when it comes to politics.
But the debate here is not whether Clinton is the perfect female candidate to run. It's why we haven't had a female president before and how it is up to women today to ensure that, at some point, a woman sits as president in the Oval Office.
If the reason why a woman has never been president is solely because voters believe a woman couldn't do as good a job as a man, doesn't that sentiment go against everything women have fought for? It sets the women's rights movement and efforts 30 years back.
Just think of a woman as president and all of the opportunities it could provide to women everywhere. To see a woman in the Oval Office, to have achieved that much for herself and for all women—that is something I'd like to see before I die. I am confident that women can do it. Meanwhile, we can work to get equal pay and respect in general. Eventually (hopefully sooner than later), the goal of having a female president will be reached.
