The United States Needs a Woman President*

A Kamala Harris victory would show skeptical Americans that competence and professional expertise play a greater role in winning the keys to the Oval Office than gender or family background. And it would be a source of inspiration for girls all over the world.

Does Kamala Harris stand a chance of defeating the demagogue Donald Trump? In the craziest U.S. election campaign in a long time, this fundamental question is inseparable from another: Is the United States ready for a woman president, and a Black woman at that?

The answer must be an assured yes. Gender and family background should be peripheral considerations in this historic contest for the world’s most important job. Harris is eminently qualified and competent, with an impressive résumé to boot. As a former state attorney general, she is ideally placed to take on Trump, whose campaign is embroiled in countless legal scandals.

The 59-year-old Harris is also eloquent, combative and charismatic. Most important, she is a seasoned Washington insider, well-versed in the complex world of administrative power headquartered on Capitol Hill. For some, she is too liberal, while for others, she is not progressive enough. Nevertheless, she manages to put her views across convincingly.

Like Germany’s Angela Merkel Moving out from Helmut Kohl’s Shadow

That said, she will have a tough time getting recognized for her own merits. Just as Germany’s first woman chancellor, Angela Merkel, famously had to reframe her public image after her male predecessor, Helmut Kohl, dubbed her “das Mädchen (the girl).” Harris is currently known primarily as “the Black woman” and one-time standard bearer of hope who almost vanished from view as Joe Biden’s vice president. Biden also saw fit to allocate some of the most taxing policy delivery briefs to her as his deputy, simply because he could as her boss.

However, it is not only Harris’ opponents who reduce her to a caricature of the hard-working woman of color with an immigrant family background. Both her parents, who moved to the U.S. from India and Jamaica respectively, were successful academics. Trump and his clones attack her with unmitigated sexism. “I call her laffin’ Kamala … She’s nuts,” Trump mocks, which is depressing, but not particularly surprising. Even fellow campaigners see Harris as a magnet for women voters of color. For example, the grassroots organization “Win with Black Women” has successfully raised funds for Harris.

The ‘Bossy Woman’

At the same time, Harris is not performing much better than Biden in recent opinion polls of African American voters. Black men and women find her “arrogant.” Being labeled a “bossy woman” for aspiring to occupy high office already proved to be Hillary Clinton’s undoing. Unlike Clinton, Harris does not have any children of her own. And people believe that this fact alone may be enough to scare off those much coveted “Soccer Mom” voters.

If Harris wants to become the first woman president, she will need to distance herself effectively from such stereotypical roles and clichés in favor of spotlighting her professional expertise in what little time remains of this campaign. It will be a vicious fight, and one that will take a heavy personal toll, at once grueling, painful and stressful. The sort of fight that can floor even the most battle-hardened pros like Clinton and former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.

A Worthwhile Fight

It is a fight worth pursuing, however. In the first instance, Americans must be persuaded that their country is ready for its first female president. Opinion polls already indicate a majority in favor. Yet, these same polls show there is doubt about whether public opinion in the United States about a woman president has genuinely shifted.

A Harris election victory would prove the doubters wrong. It would show young people, men and women alike, that a record of competence and service can unlock entry to the Oval Office for a woman or a man, no matter their color. And it would also inspire every young girl following this American woman’s fate with keen eyes, even those watching from Europe. Even the ones saying, “She will never get elected because she’s a woman.”

*Editor’s note: This article is available in its original language with a paid subscription.