Many will vote for Hillary Clinton simply as a choice apart from fear, hate, divisiveness, and illiberal ideas.
Certainly, most Democrats, and others, will vote for Clinton since she represents specific policy positions and values.
Some of these are: civil rights and liberties including women’s rights and equality, minority rights, LGTBQ rights, environmental protection, green energy, help for the poor and disenfranchised, respect for our veterans, respect for the disabled, respect for all cultures, races and religions, compassion for seniors, help for the middle class, a fair taxation system, job growth, equal access to quality education, and gun control.
Further, many voters want to ensure intelligent foreign relations, diplomacy, and counter-intelligence strategies to both protect our homeland and facilitate a more peaceful world.
These issues, and many more, are some of the reasons that many of us will be voting for a Democrat.
Nevertheless, as a society, we should not be ashamed or indifferent, but celebratory about the fact that our next Commander-in-Chief may indeed be a woman.
Somehow, the narrative on how we may soon witness the historic electoral victory of a first female president has seemed to dissipate; the excitement has been lost somewhere in the midst of this uniquely contentious, unpopular, and tense election cycle.
Yet, the prospect that we may soon have a first female Commander in Chief is not something we should minimize.
Women’s equality has come a long way, but also has a long way to go.
In the United States, women gained the constitutional right to vote in 1920, with the ratification of the 19th Amendment, a mere 96 years ago.
The women’s rights movement has evolved in this country through feminist leaders, writers, politicians, and activists. Still, there is much work to be done.
An American woman who works full time, year round, is paid only 79 cents for every dollar paid to men.
It’s time to fix the inequity. Of course, women have broken many glass ceilings and have excelled in various careers that were once male-dominated.
American society has evolved plenty, shattering conventional social roles that both men and women were once confined to.
Nevertheless, we can do even better. Moreover, there are many politicians, both male and female, and other portions of our citizenry, who are in favor of repealing reproductive rights.
Many look to the Democrats, and liberal political activists, writers, and politicians to further the cause of equality.
Yet, even among Democratic thinkers, women’s inequality still exists in various forms.
Some of our fellow citizens still see women confined to conventional roles, not as independent or as capable as men. Age, marital status, number of offspring, gender, or appearance should not matter in the world of intellectual and civic engagement.
Yet, it still often, and surprisingly, does matter.
Women, in many instances, are stigmatized when it appears that one is operating outside of a conventional role.
We would be naïve to think that liberal men and women are immune to facilitating this stigmatization.
Regardless of how educated, liberal-minded or enlightened that we think we are, it would be helpful to reflect upon our own deep-seated stereotypes, or prejudices that we carry around with us, often unknowingly.
Higher education does not inoculate one against sexism — it’s surely something many of us need to consider.
The young, the old, the in-between, male and female, of all backgrounds and appearances have much to share with one another.
Thus, women’s equality is not only a female issue, but humanity’s issue.
Confining women to various societal conventions and stereotypes nonetheless confines men to certain roles, as well.
In this way, human connectedness, progress, and innovation becomes stifled.
The demos functions best with not a denial of male or female, but with the strength that comes from the celebration of both the masculine and feminine.
The liberation of males and females from outdated or unnecessary societal convention helps to empower diverse citizen engagement, democratic progress and innovative problem-solving.
It is with this functionality that we can effectively work to solve our societal ills, combatting racism, injustice, illiberalism, violence, poverty, and other problems.
The remaining divisiveness along gender lines that exits in our great nation is similar to the divisiveness that we all too often witness along racial and cultural lines in our country.
Much of this divisiveness comes from fear, misunderstanding, and disconnection.
If Hillary Clinton wins this presidential election, it will be a giant step forward for progressive-thinking women and men across our nation.
Yet, many of us realize that although her victory will be a giant step forward, it will not be a magic elixir.
One can only hope that in our efforts to bring forth true equality, there will come a day when a person, male or female, will be regarded for their talents, ideas, motivations, and actions rather than appearance, wardrobe, pitch and loudness of voice, or gender characteristics.
This is certainly a tall order, and will take much more time and effort.
However, we can achieve so much on a smaller scale, by reflecting on our own mindset in civic engagement, and in various other day-to-day interactions with one another.
In the spirit of Nicholas Kristof’s powerful book on women’s struggles world-wide, women are indeed “half the sky.”
In order to lead the world with our example of a participatory democracy, rich with civic engagement, activism, democratic discourse, rule of law, and equality, we should celebrate the whole sky, and utilize the wonderful diversity and uniqueness we all have to offer to this thriving nation.
Diana Poulos-Lutz
Mineola
