The Unbearable Lightness of Being an American Female

By Dennis Matanda/Nairobi/Toronto/New York

I write this in the aftermath/afterglow of watching Senator Kamala Harris debate Vice President Mike Pence. Although I was not with them, I can only imagine the questions my daughters would pose to their mother if they were so inclined to debates at the ripe age of six. But there she was; Harris could be the 47th President of the United States. Nonetheless, it would be unfair of me to discuss her debate performance. I will leave that to more professional prognosticators. As your humble scribe, I am tormented by more painful things.

Let me start in 2010 before going back to 2008. Martha Coakley, erstwhile Attorney General of Massachusetts lost Ted Kennedy’s seat to Scott Brown. Martha lost that election despite being a fully fledged Democrat in one of the BLUEST states in the United States. She lost to a man who was not necessarily political, and with all due respect, not necessarily the sharpest tool in the shade. Being a fledgling American politics scholar, I was quite taken aback when my professor brazenly said that America was still too paternalistic a society to send an unattractive woman to elected office. He said this in an era where India, Israel, Pakistan, Liberia, Malawi and the United Kingdom had already had had women leaders.

Nonetheless, Prof. Drezner was not speaking for the shock value. He was clarifying a few things about the role of women in a polarized society. Unfortunately for women in the United States, they are still expected to devote themselves to their menfolk so that the world could be a little more habitable for them. That some Americans could blame Hillary Clinton for her husband’s infidelity boggles the mind. That they could criticize her for wearing pantsuits is just against the grain of time. That they could choose a charismatic Obama over her in 2008 is quite jarring. America was readier to elect an unknown black man over a known and capable woman. And here, we return to the Coakley Battle in Massachusetts. Scott Brown did not have much substance. As demonstrated by Rep. Paul Ryan in his vice presidential debate against Joe Biden in 2012, the Republican arguments usually fall to the wayside under the simplest of scrutiny. Nonetheless, Scott Brown had that Obama Charisma. The sort that would take a capable woman to the tool shade.

Invariably, what do Martha Coakley and Hillary Clinton have to do with Kamala Harris? Well, Senator Harris could, actually, break the glass ceiling. She will – if elected this November – be the first female Vice President in the history of the United States. If Joe Biden serves as the transitory figure he hopes to be, there’s a chance that Kamala Harris will be the person to pick up his mantle. That things could come from Obama to Biden and then to Harris is quite remarkable. Who knows what could have happened if it had been President Clinton and Vice President Obama in 2008 and 2012, respectively? Kamala may not have had as big a spotlight as she has today.

Summarily, I cannot help but have a sense of dread; for my daughters, their mother – for women everywhere. The time has come for a woman to be more than a running mate. For all appearances, she seems to have passed the test at the 2020 Vice Presidential Debate. She was formidable and yet pleasant. She was charismatic and not enveloping. She was self deprecating and yet forthright. And Pence was just a man.

About the Author

Dennis Matanda is a trade and investment specialist with a background in both communication and partner development. He is co-editor-in-chief of The Habari Network, an online publication.