As a little girl, I remember learning about Marie Curie, Rosa Parks, and Amelia Earhart. I read The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank and admired the work of Frida Kahlo, appreciating the mighty impact they left on society. These leaders courageously fought for human rights, they made discoveries we still rely on today, and each of them left an imprint never to be forgotten. As I look back, these figures stood at the forefront of my education not only because they were pioneers, but because they were women. They showed me that girls can become the change we need in our world. Now that I’m a mother to two boys, I want them to know that too.
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“Why are there no girls?” my son asked when he was 5 as he paged through a book of presidents we’d recently bought him. “There hasn’t been a woman president yet, but there should be. There will be,” I responded firmly. He’s always been curious about the presidents of our country and I hope that he’ll see a fierce female leader added to the list soon.
Boys grow up knowing that men can be leaders. They see the president of the United States speaking on television, addressing the nation with authority. They watch countries at war led by men and see an overwhelming number of male police officers and firefighters protecting their communities. It’s simple for boys to envision themselves in positions of power because they see it all around them as they grow.
As a child, while I reveled in the notion that female trailblazers had done wonders, there was one realm lacking the touch of feminine leadership: A woman had never led our country.
When Hilary Clinton came close to winning the election in 2016, I suddenly reverted to the inspired little girl watching Oprah Winfrey beside my mother on a Wednesday afternoon in the ’90s, in awe of a strong woman paving the way forward for girls everywhere. Listening to Clinton defend her stance on issues important to me, I felt that familiar butterfly in my gut — the one that told me countless times as a child, “ You’re stronger than you know and more capable than you think .”
Clinton may not have won, but she set a precedent.
Now, Kamala Harris is running for president and girls may finally see someone like them make it to the top. But equally as important, boys will see that girls can become women who lead the nation too. If Harris wins the election, boys will grow up watching a woman lead our country — and that will make all the difference in the men they become.
Harris stands for everything I want our nation to be: A country where gun control means dropping my children at school is no longer a threat to their existence, where climate change is acknowledged so our children and their children can live healthy lives after us, and a nation where every person is treated respectfully and equally no matter who they are. But beyond our shared views, I see a strong woman capable of being the leader our boys need at a time when female leadership has never been more important.
As so many government officials attempt to control our bodies and that of our daughters, mothers, and friends, Harris as president could restore all that’s been lost. A reproductive rights advocate, Harris has consistently supported abortion rights throughout her career. Girls have everything to gain from a woman president, but equally as vital, boys will learn to be respectful through the changes that would follow her inauguration.
With a woman in power — and one who supports a woman’s right to choose — boys would learn with certainty that no one touches a woman’s body without her consent, and no one should have a say in her medical care but her. “We who believe in reproductive freedom will stop Donald Trump’s extreme abortion bans because we trust women to make decisions about their own body and not have their government tell them what to do,” Harris said at a recent rally .
In the wake of the #metoo movement, raising boys has never held a clearer agenda: We must teach them that girls deserve the dignity men have always had without question. By returning women’s control of their own bodies, our boys will learn gender equality, empathy, and respect. A female president will shape our boys into men who care about women rather than men who seek to control them.
My hope is that we reach a place where children don’t question how far they can go based on sex or gender. Girls should aspire to be their best and boys should know they have every right to get there. I want my boys to work alongside girls at school knowing they’re one and the same. I want them to graduate from high school and college with the expectation that women like Ruth Bader Ginsburg will be beside them (and above them!) in their studies, in their work, and in their lives. With Harris as president, boys will learn the meaning of consent and the consequences that follow because women will once again be treated with dignity.
It’s time for girls to see someone like them leading our country. But it’s also time for boys to grow up knowing that a girl can become president of the United States too.
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