Inauguration Day: What’s Behind the Magic of Seeing Yourself Represented?
“I want there to be a girl president,” said my 8-year-old niece when Hillary Clinton was running.
“I want the girl cook to win Master Chef Junior,” said the 6-year-old daughter of a friend in season one.
These girls were too young to assess political issues or judge the most sophisticated meal but their wish, their need, to see themselves reflected in public life was visceral and clear.
On January 20th, these girls, now ages 12 and 14, and so many others, will witness Kamala Harris — a woman, a Black woman, and a person of Indian descent — take office. For four years they will watch her confer with the President of the United States, prepared to take over in a moment’s notice. And they will internalize the words in her acceptance speech more fully: “While I may be the first woman in this office, I won’t be the last. Because every little girl watching tonight sees that this is a country of possibilities.”
But why does it really matter that Vice President-elect Harris is female?
Growing up in the ’70s as I did, girls didn’t know to hope for something like that. It wasn’t something we imagined because it wasn’t something we saw. Sure, I read a few books about how girls could be anything boys could be, but I didn’t often…
