Womenin politics

Kaylene Lin

Excited. Nervous. Terrified.

She burst through the door of her high school counselor’s office, desperate to get something off of her chest. She worried about what her parents would think. She worried about what everyone would think.

Just a freshman in high school, young Angelica Espinoza grew up surrounded by politics. In her hometown just north of the U.S.-Mexico border, with her two immigrant parents, in her brown skin and Latina heritage - politics wove her life together.

So, she confided in her high school counselor. “I’m going to be the first of my family to go to college. I don’t know what to major in; I don’t even know how to apply. I just know that I’m really interested in politics. What do you think?”

And without missing a beat, her counselor looked up and said, “I don’t think politics would be good for you. That kind of place just isn’t made for girls like you.”

Women have had a long history of being told “no.”

In the United States, they weren’t given the right to vote until 1920, couldn’t serve jury duty in all 50 states until 1968, and the act prohibiting women from practicing law purely on the grounds of their sex wasn’t outlawed until 1971. Women were legally kept out of every corner of United States’ politics for fear that “becoming educated” caused infertility.

And even now, plenty of young girls just like Espinoza are told “no” to chasing their aspirations.

“I harbored that moment with me,” Espinoza said. “I never want anyone ever to feel that your dreams are crushed because someone says that you don’t belong there since you’re a woman.”

Now several years since that conversation with her counselor, Espinoza works at Ignite as a San Diego Fellow. Launched in 2010 and headquartered in Oakland, Ignite is an organization dedicated to encouraging young women to own their political power.

“If you want to run for office, awesome, let’s go ahead and support your campaign and get it started. If you want to be a political staffer and start writing bills, okay, we’re going to teach you the skills to be an advocate within that sector,” Espinoza said.

Emily’s List, founded in 1985, is another organization that helps recruit candidates, fund campaigns, and mobilize voters.

“Women were not taken seriously in politics because they couldn’t raise the money to be considered viable candidates. So our founder, Ellen Malcolm, along with a number of her friends, decided if we put money behind women candidates, that would raise their viability,” Tonya Williams, the Director of Strategic Communications at Emily’s List, said.

Both Ignite and Emily’s List serve as real-life reminders that women in politics are a new phenomenon. But even if it is new, plenty of similar organizations are set on making politics an accessible reality for girls nationwide.

“The fact is men cannot be deciding for the whole population when the whole population isn’t men. We need to have accurate representation. We need to truly make sure that this world works for all of us, and not just some of us,” Espinoza said.

Yet, even with these organizations in place, women still face backlash when going into politics. For example, Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign in 2016 provoked a wave of sexism.

In an article by The Atlantic in 2016, Peter Beinart recalls the different types of merchandise on display outside of the Republican National Convention.

“Black T-shirt depicting Trump as a boxer having just knocked Clinton to the floor of the ring, where she lies face up in a clingy tank top. White pin advertising ‘KFC HILLARY SPECIAL. 2 FAT THIGHS. 2 SMALL BREASTS … LEFTWING,’” Beinart said.

While it is debated whether or not sexism was actually a driving force in Clinton’s defeat, the double standards that she faced while running aren’t new.

“For example, Congresswoman Katey Porter out in California said that some reporters would ask her so much about how her children were that she actually thought something was wrong with them. Men aren’t asked questions about marriage or childcare nearly as much,” Williams said.

Additionally, 67% of Americans say that it is easier for men to get elected into high political offices, according to a 2018 study by the Pew Research Center’s American Trends Panel. Six-in-ten Americans also say that women have to work harder to prove their competency, and about five-in-ten say gender discrimination is a major barrier in politics.

These statistics reflect the obstacles women faced less than a century ago.

Although they gained the right to vote through the passage of the 19th Amendment, that right was only extended to white women. Black female activists like Ida B. Wells and Fannie Lou Hamer were placed in the back of the movement. They had to wait nearly five more decades before exercising their right to vote.

“When we think about the very beginning, it was only white women leading the cause. And so white women got the right to vote sooner than Black, Latina, Asian, and Native American women did. Although we’ve made so much progress, there are still inequities that exist because our fight hasn’t been as inclusive from the beginning or as soon as it needed to be,” Espinoza said.

According to the Center For American Women and Politics, out of the 7,383 state legislators, 7.5% of them are women of color, as of Dec. 31, 2020. Furthermore, out of the 2,162 female state legislators, 25.5% are women of color.

Luckily, youth-led organizations such as Afro Puff Chronicles have continued the fight for not only diversity in politics, but diversity in the women’s movement as well.

“Afro Puff Chronicles is a media platform for girls of color to express themselves through art and writing. We center our mission around empowering girls of color through education and also through sometimes difficult conversations around diversity,” Tyler Newman, the founder of Afro Puff Chronicles, said.

The organization has amassed over 10,000 followers on Instagram since its start in 2018. They utilize this platform to post educational content about topics ranging from microaggressions to cultural appropriation.

“I think that women having a voice in politics is very new, and I hope it continues to grow. We’re making a lot of really good steps already, especially with having Kamala Harris as our vice president. That’s a huge step forward,” Newman said.

By publicizing and spreading information through social media, platforms like Afro Puff Chronicles have mobilized youth across America to fight for diversity and representation. Consequently, much of the Carlmont student body has gotten involved with creating change locally.

“I think encouraging women and girls who are interested in politics to go into that field is a change that we need. We should also help young people — girls and boys — develop the proper vocabulary and confidence to face double standards or other disproportionate obstacles,” Samantha Rodriguez-Velasquez, a sophomore, said.

So, despite the challenges and inequities that the women’s movement has faced, many have continued to push ahead.

“It’s amazing how far we’ve come. We’ve got to keep that in mind and not take our foot off the gas when it comes to running for office and wanting to run,” Williams said. “It is important to run because our stories matter. Women bring their experiences into the halls of power every day, and I think Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley says it the best: ‘The people closest to the pain need to be closest to the power.’”