glass ceiling unbroken

Years ago, when Barack Obama first came in as a potential Democratic presidential candidate, I was still very much for Hilary Rodham Clinton. I’m not American but I liked her style and I really wished I could vote for her. She was tough, she stood for things I believed in, and I just felt like she had proven herself many times over. But Obama was charismatic and smart, and he swayed me and I thought, “well, there’s always the next time. And she’ll be the next US President.” I was absolutely sure of it then. 

Eight years later, that certainty has most certainly dimmed. The most qualified presidential candidate in the history of the USA lost to this ridiculous candidate who should have been shut out from the onset. And yes, it signals a lot of things - that terrorism is playing such a large part in our lives, that people are scared and turning to more basic responses, that xenophobia is winning out. But for me, it mainly feels like we haven’t accepted gender equality.  A lot of people, though by a close margin, are still not ready yet to have a woman hold the most powerful position in the world. The toughest thing for me to accept about today isn’t the inevitability of a POTUS Trump. It’s the fact that for me, a candidate like Hilary Rodham Clinton should have been a done deal against someone like Donald Trump. And yet she wasn’t. 

As this day winds down and this new world order sets in, I wonder if other women will agree with this sadness I’m feeling. If Hilary Rodham Clinton couldn’t break the highest, toughest glass ceiling, then who could?

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