Daily Narcissism Pt. 2: What about me?
“What about me?” is probably one of the most self-centered questions I have ever asked, and it’s not necessarily a question I’m comfortable asking because it draws more attention to me than I like. But it’s a question I want to ask everyone who says, “I’m voting for Hillary because she’s a woman.”
People who use this line of thinking are generally women of Hillary’s generation, women like many of my mother’s friends, for whom Hillary’s bid for the presidency represents everything they fought against, everything that was held against them. Now, many of these women are my role-models, women I looked up to as I grew up and I’m uncomfortable asking them to reevaluate their ideas. But I think they have mistaken Hillary as they “change they’ve been waiting for.” I am that change.
I am that change because I look at Hillary and her campaign and say, “She’s a woman, so what?” It means nothing to me that a woman is running for president because I have never known a time when women didn’t have as many opportunities as men. I am bright and successful and have been given a fair chance at everything I wanted to do. My gender has never been an issue. I got into an elite school without it mattering. I have been able to assume leadership roles where experience was what mattered, not gender. I am a member of a generation in which more females and attending and graduating from college. We may not have equal pay all the time, but we have equal job opportunities.
I am eternally grateful to all those women who spent their lives silently and diligently fighting for equal opportunities for women. Think of everything I have been able to accomplish because what they did. Hence, I want to ask some of Hillary’s most ardent supporters to take a step back, to evaluate their logic and ask just really is the fruits of their labor (no pun intended). Hillary’s bid for presidency has certainly accomplished something important. Think of any five year old who watches TV now and sees a black man and a woman standing on stage next to each other. Now, they know no different. Think of how much they’ll be able to achieve when they grow up. So yes, there is overlap. Yes, women have finally broken into the system and certainly accomplished something with Hillary, but who represents that it has really changed? Clinton or me? Clinton or their daughters? I know it’s difficult to wait any longer, but all I ask is let my generation mature let us enter and get entrenched in the work force. That’s when we’ll really see progress.
On that note, Happy St. Patrick’s Day everyone!
-Em
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Seriously, she’s got a good decade or so on me &, with the exception of 1 or 2 “friends”, those nearest & dearest to me are all voting for Obama!!! Even your 80 year old Grandmother is!!! That said, I do agree with most of what you said. If we all thought like Hill’s supporters, we would’ve supported Elizabeth Dole, too. Heaven forbid.
I didn’t say it was you or your age group specifically nor was I making broad statements about all your friends. It just that home, from some women that you know, was where I first heard this particular reasoning and I got it more when I was campaigning.
Finally, a post where someone doesn’t completely agree with me. That’s good.