What Kamala’s Candidacy Means for Women Leaders
Episode 465 | Author: Emilie Aries
Three things on my mind as we navigate a historic moment.
If something as historically groundbreaking as a president voluntarily relinquishing power doesn’t call for an adjustment of my blog and podcast publishing schedule, I don’t know what would!
On July 21st, President Biden announced he would not be pursuing reelection and is endorsing Kamala Harris as the next Democratic candidate. This news left me excited and energized for the future, and those feelings persisted through the week as I spoke with so many about what this candidacy means for women—especially for women of color and those in positions of leadership.
Embrace the “audacity of hope” and ambition
Many women I talk to are reticent to get excited about the possibilities tied up in Kamala’s candidacy. Racist and misogynistic attacks have already surfaced and are only going to get worse, and it’s difficult not to take such rhetoric personally.
It’s no secret that violence in politics is at a level we haven’t seen since the civil rights movement, and it’s understandable that people are fearful of what this announcement means for Kamala Harris’s own personal safety and women in leadership positions across the board. But holding ourselves back from feeling hopeful about the possibilities—not to mention staying silent in the face of that misogynistic rhetoric—will only hinder progress from here on out. From now until Election Day (and beyond, of course), we need to challenge baseless and biased statements and give ourselves permission to be hopeful.
As Kara Lowentheil put it recently on this very podcast, our underlying beliefs drive our actions, and our actions contribute to our outcomes. So, if you believe that our country isn’t ready to elect a woman of color to the highest political office in the land, your behavior won’t change to help make that a reality. By simply trying to protect yourself from future disappointment, you actually contribute to maintaining the status quo. So let’s be brave together and dare to dream.
Be mindful of the double standards we hold women leaders to
Speaking of what we say, this meme has been making its way around the internet since the announcement that reminds all of us that what we say about women in power matters more to the women in our own lives than anyone else.
Women in power have long been held to unattainable double standards of perfection that expect them to somehow be assertive and authoritative but also warm, kind, and likable in a culture that tends not to like assertive and authoritative women. So, while you should absolutely be asking questions about Kamala’s policy positions and future proposals, let’s not expect perfection and 100% alignment with your own personal policy agenda. No candidate is perfect, and it’s unfair to hold women to a higher standard than anyone we’ve ever sent to the White House before.
It’s so important to speak up and speak out when you hear sexist double standards in action, too. Remind your friends and family that if what they want to say about Kamala Harris is something they would hesitate to say about someone they actually know—it’s better kept to themselves. Ask the important questions, but be on the lookout for evidence of the double standards our society so often holds women to. Call it out when you hear it. Sometimes, it’s as simple as asking, “What do you mean by that?” when such statements surface in your conversations.
Consider the candidate’s vision for America - and their real impacts on women’s lives
While I’m excited to be supporting Kamala Harris, I’m not saying I agree with all of her political stances. But let’s consider the candidates’ policy platforms overall. Kamala has already emphasized the issues that advocates for women’s rights like me have been fighting for for decades in her very first stump speech. Anyone willing to shine a spotlight on paid parental leave for all, affordable childcare, reproductive healthcare, and worker’s rights is someone who has my vote, because these are the very issues that can have an enormous impact on women, mothers, parents, and all workers.
At the end of the day, this election will come down to just two candidates: Kamala Harris or Donald Trump. While it’s easy to get mired in single-issue arguments, we must look at the overall distinctions between these two very different visions for the future of America when casting our ballot.
If you’re as fired up about Kamala’s candidacy as I am, I encourage you to join me now in taking action.
Make sure you’re registered to vote at www.vote.gov
Sign up to donate: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/potuskamala
Register to volunteer with the campaign: kamalaharris.com
As Kamala says on her website, “Together, we can win this!”
Regardless of your political perspective, I want to hear what is top of mind for you this election season! Whether your perspectives match mine or differ, weigh in on the Courage Community on Facebook or join us in our group on LinkedIn, and let’s keep up this important conversation.
Related Links From Today’s Episode:
Learn more about Rank Choice Voting
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EMILIE: Hey, and welcome to the Bossed Up podcast, episode 465. I'm your host, Emilie Aries, the Founder and CEO of Bossed Up. And today, we have scrapped every episode that we had already had planned, changed our entire production line around
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so that we can talk about the news over the past week. By the time this airs, it'll have been about 8-10 days since President Biden announced he is not seeking re-election. He's stepping down from the top of the ticket and endorsed Kamala Harris. So I have been very excited and energized over the last week or so and also feel like it's an important conversation for us to have.
Regardless of how you feel about Kamala Harris as a candidate, you know, respectful of the fact that we all in the Bossed Up community bring our own political perspectives and differences to the table, and that enriches our conversation. And for full disclosure, I used to work for the Democratic National Committee and the Obama campaign, so it's not like I'm bringing an unbiased opinion here. But there's been so many thoughts just rolling through my head around what this means for women, for women of color, for women in positions of leadership and power everywhere.
So, first of all, holy wow. Like, holy moly. What a development. I did not see that coming even already. No matter what happens throughout the rest of this election cycle, history is being made. We are witnessing history as Kamala Harris steps up as the first black and AAPI woman at the top of a ticket, a presidential candidate.
So a few thoughts that have been bubbling to the top of my mind over the last week as I've been getting more engaged and involved and tuning in on different calls and organizing initiatives and really listening to other women and hearing from them, the first is that I think this is a moment where we need to be audacious about ambition, where I know a lot of us who lived through the 2016 defeat of Hillary Clinton by Donald Trump, a defeat that many of us did not see coming, that the pollsters didn't see coming, felt like a slap in the face. It felt like women were so close to breaking that biggest glass ceiling and that we were instead put in our place by one of the most openly misogynistic, racist examples of a candidate that we've ever seen in American history.
And that has scared a lot of us right now, especially women of color I've been speaking to who are fearful about the onslaught of sexism, racism, misogynoir rhetoric that will be coming our way. And when I say coming our way, it's because whatever's lobbed against Kamala Harris in these next 103 days, or 102 days as of this recording, feels like it's getting lobbed at all women. It's hard to not personalize this when sexist rhetoric pops up.
And so I think a lot of us are not only fearful and expecting that, but other women of color I've spoken with are genuinely fearful for Kamala's safety. And I remember feeling this exact way back when President Obama took office. And especially given the recent events with the Secret Service and the assassination attempt on President Trump, which was a huge failure of our secret service and very scary for all involved.
You know, violence in politics, in our democracy, is never the path forward, but it is scary because it feels like the violent rhetoric in recent years, especially following the January 6 insurrection, has been where, by the way, people died, just so we recall, right, on January 6, when in so many ways, President Trump himself instigated an insurrection. You know, people's lives were lost that day. And that kind of violence in politics we haven't seen since the civil rights era. And it feels scary. It feels really scary to be heading backwards in time.
And people are rightfully scared for Kamala Harris, and yet that kind of fear is part of what keeps us silent. We think that if we don't hope, if we don't aspire to greatness, that we're somehow protecting ourselves from disappointment. And so I think we have to check ourselves. If you are having that gut reaction of, I don't want to get too excited about this, I implore you to give yourself permission to be genuinely audacious and ambitious about what this could mean, not only because of her gender and race, but as I'll talk more about in a moment, because of the policies that might become possible under a Harris administration that we've been talking around for decades now, policies that make meaningful differences in many, many women's lives.
The title, the phrase that came to mind right away, this is my Obama roots showing, is The Audacity Of Hope, the title of Barack Obama's first book, right? This is a moment that requires audacity of hope from all of us. It requires us pushing back on those electability questions of, I don't think America's ready to elect a woman of color to president. And it's like, if we even utter those words out loud, that perpetuates that. You know, when I hear someone say that I don't think America's ready for this, I think, well, not with that attitude, [LAUGHTER] you know, this is a moment to aspire to our highest ideals for America, even if it feels easier to be cynical, easier to be frustrated and disappointed, and to point out the injustice that's all around us, that cynicism will keep you silent, will keep you stagnant, will keep you, those underlying beliefs will determine your behaviors. Right?
So if you believe America's not ready for a woman of color in the Oval Office, then you're not gonna change your behavior to help make that happen. So give yourself permission to be audacious about ambition, to have the audacity of hope in this moment. And last Sunday, when the news was breaking, I remember saying to Brad, like, oh, my god. First, I didn't think this was ever gonna happen or real. I really, because people giving up power voluntarily is not something that happens often, okay, in the world, especially global superpowers. People don't walk away from that easily. I never thought Biden was gonna do that. And I genuinely tip my hat to him as the ultimate public servant for doing so. Because walking away from a 50 year public service career like this has got to be hard. And he even acknowledged personal ambition as something he didn't want to get in the way of saving democracy in this moment.
So when I was talking with Brad, I said, I want to make sure we're enthusiastic about this response tomorrow. We're going to sign up to donate every week, and we're going to get involved as volunteers. I'm going to start texting my friends now. And I thought to myself, like, I have to give myself permission to be enthusiastic because I want other people to do that, too. And over the last week, seeing the absolute energizing response that has been a result of her announcement of her candidacy and her endorsement by the President of the United States, Joe Biden, has just been such an invigorating reminder that it's really about the community. This is about talking to our neighbors. This is about giving ourselves as women permission to be excited about this milestone and to be excited by coming together and doing something about it.
I was on a Zoom call last night as of this recording, I'm recording this Friday morning. That was led by, it was a call for white women specifically to step up, pull up for Kamala Harris, after different groups of women of color had been starting to organize on Zoom calls themselves earlier in the week. And this was organized with their consult with women of color, sort of directing how this should go and advising on how this should go. And people like Glennon Doyle, and the singer Pink, and actresses like Connie Britton, were there speaking alongside DNC folks, and party operatives and other folks who are more part of the political machine. And there were 134,000 women tuning in, which was just unbelievable.
From a community organizer and grassroots organizer background, I could not believe what I have been seeing in the past, you know, less than a week since she became the top of the ticket nominee. And so I am just invigorated by other people's vigor. I am excited by other people's excitement about this, and I hope you can be, too. If you have been holding back, if you have been feeling scared to be hopeful, I implore you to give yourself permission to be audacious.
The second thing that's been coming to mind a lot lately, and this is particularly relevant for those of you who are not on board with Kamala Harris. I don't expect anyone, any candidate, to be perfect, to be aligned with me 100% on all the issues. To be clear, I'm supporting Kamala Harris, but I don't think she's a perfect candidate. And I think there are lots of folks who have reasonable questions, who reasonably want to push her on the policy issues, who want to activate and advocate for the things that they believe in. And I think that is great. That is part of how our democracy works.
But let's not hold Kamala Harris, the first woman of color, at the top of the ticket, to unfair double standards, because those are the same unfair double standards that women in power everywhere face, that women like you and I face when it comes to being likable, but also being assertive, and authoritative, and strong, like she has navigated an impossible balancing act that is especially acute for women of color. She is under a microscope now in ways that she hasn't been historically, even as Vice President.
And so let's just be really mindful about how we talk about Kamala Harris and her candidacy in this election cycle. Even if you don't support her, you know, if you degrade her based on her appearance, based on the sound of her voice, there's a really interesting meme going around that I think is so perfectly sums this up. Like, when you say ignorant things about women in power, so it goes. They don't hear you. Kamala Harris is not going to hear you, but your daughters do. Your mother does. Your sisters hear you. Your nieces hear you, too. And I would add to that, your sons hear you. And how we condition little boys and girls around us, as well as the grown a** men and women around us, to perceive women who have ambition to perceive powerful women who are going for that promotion at the highest level, that says a lot about our culture. It says a lot about you and your underlying beliefs, and they absorb that.
So whatever you wouldn't say to the loved ones in your life, let's not say that out loud about Kamala Harris. I think it's totally fair to push her on the issues, to question her policy initiatives. But let's keep in mind, this is not a single issue campaign, okay? These are two wildly different candidates with two wildly different visions for America. So let's not make the same perfectionistic trap that we all feel as women the bar to which we hold Kamala Harris, okay? This is not about perfecting, performing, and pleasing everyone. This is about winning a campaign. So that one vision for America that is focused on freedom, that is focused on a wildly different set of rights that she wants to protect, compared to a vision for America that is totally different. And we can respectfully disagree about those visions, but let's listen carefully for the double standards that we're holding women in power up to and call them out.
The biggest lesson I took away from last night's White Women for Harris call was that white women in particular are more likely to be in the room where they might be the only person considering supporting Harris at, you know, the potluck or at the barbecue this summer. Silence will not protect us. As Glennon Doyle said last night, our silence will not protect us. So this is the time to dare to ask the question, what do you mean by that? When someone says something ignorant about Kamala Harris? Because guess what? She's not going to hear you. But your nieces, your daughters, and your mother will. And so even a question as simple as, what do you mean by that? Help me understand where you're coming from on this, can open an important dialogue and help call out sexist and racist stereotypes that are unfair double standards to which so many women are held every day.
Finally, I want to round this out by acknowledging those two wildly different visions for America. Because you might not agree with Kamala on all the issues. I don't. You know, I have my own set of, sort of very niche specific issues that I'd like to learn more about when it comes to Kamala's view, is that if you have single issues that you feel strongly about, I totally respect and understand that. And we have to look at the totality of her agenda, the totality of these two wildly different visions for America.
When Kamala Harris gave her first stump speech last week, she centered it all on freedom, the freedom to live in a country where you can get ahead, not just get by. And I thought that captured economic progress that needs to be made so beautifully, where issues like affordable childcare, which you know I've been ranting about on this podcast all year, and paid family and medical leave for all, those words came out of her mouth in her very first stump speech. These are central to the issues impacting working women, and impacting all women, and impacting all parents, because those are not women's issues, really, if you think about it. Seeing those kinds of policy initiatives front and center on her radar is so exciting to me, because if not, we aren't gonna talk about that stuff for a while.
And it feels like every time we come close in the 80’s and with 2016’s it's just like the country goes in a wildly different direction and people hurt because of that. People's lives get worse because of that, because of what kind of focus our President brings to their agenda. Protecting women's rights, advocating for reproductive health care access, including things like contraception and IVF access. Seeing press releases coming from her campaign in week one about National IVF Day and contraception and fertility support issues being something that she can speak to is so encouraging.
This is the moment where we can't shy away from what has been happening to women's rights and bodily autonomy. In recent years, women have been under attack, and that changes women's lives. And if you, like me, have a privilege of living in a state where your reproductive rights have been untouched, we cannot take that for granted because there are countless other women whose lives and access have changed dramatically because of what's been happening in the Supreme Court and nationally and in state houses all over the country.
The fact of the matter is, her agenda is so much more than one issue. And so I think it's really important when we talk about the perfection that we hold women leaders to, that we think holistically here about what her candidacy, what her presidency would mean for women, would mean for working class people, would mean for working women, for moms, for working moms. Like, it is a matter of focus because the President can't do everything. He can't please everyone, right? And so when I think about casting my ballot, I think about what priorities do I want to see in this candidate, and how do those priorities compare to the only other viable option here? Because, listen, I respect my third party people.
I think you got to be like a certain type of person to actually run in a third party in our American political system right now because of how politics actually works, because of how campaign finance works. None of which I love, right. Those are things that we can absolutely change and advocate for changing to make things easier for third party candidates to run. There's a ballot initiative in many states, including Colorado, this year, about Rank Choice Voting that can help make that happen, among many other things.
But I'm also a pragmatist, y'all. This election, for better or worse, is boiling down to Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. So, when you decide whether you're going to cast a ballot at all this November and for whom you will vote this November, let's keep that reality in mind. That's my two cents for the day. That's what's been on my mind in this past wild week in politics.
I want to hear from you. I want to hear what is top of mind for you. So as always, please weigh in via the Bossed Up Courage Community on Facebook, the Bossed Up LinkedIn group. And you can always email me at emily@bossedup.org.
More so now than ever. Having gotten more involved in Colorado politics, which is a very purple state here, I fully respect our diversity of thought on these issues, and I want to hear what your questions and concerns are, what your perspectives are, including if they're wildly different than my own, and if you share some of the perspectives that I've outlined today, I have three very concrete asks for you, including being the woman at the birthday party or the backyard barbecue who calls out your relatives when they're saying wildly wild things about Kamala's candidacy. But my three asks for you are really simple. One is check your voter registration. Get yourself registered to vote at vote.gov if you haven't already yet. Others who might be new to voting registered to vote at vote.gov. That is the number one ask. I could not believe the numbers that vote.gov saw last week. Bigger influx of new first time voter registrations than when Taylor Swift posted about vote.gov.
The second is to donate. I know that money is a precious resource, but think about where you want to put your energy right now. If your time is really limited right now, give money. Because that money directly helps grow her campaign capacity. She's hiring tons of new open campaign positions as of this week because of the influx of money that has been outpouring since this announcement. So sign up like me, to register to donate on a weekly basis between now and election day, even if it's just $10, you know, chipping in regularly makes a huge, huge difference.
And finally, volunteer. Join me in signing up to volunteer to make phone calls, which, by the way, you can do from the comfort of your own home into battleground states where you can just talk to your neighbors, your fellow countrymen and women, right? Talk to people about how they're thinking about this election. Be curious. It's not about, like, persuading necessarily. It's about speaking your truth and hearing their truth and chronicling those calls or signing up to knock doors in your neighborhood, especially if you live in a battleground state. That is the way we win this. And as she says right there on her website, kamalaharris.com, together we can win this.
I hope you'll join me in taking action. Stay tuned for more information on some organizing I'll be doing here in Colorado to get some opportunities to get involved. If you're here in Colorado or in the Denver Metro Area, follow me on Instagram if you don't already, because I'll be posting a lot more about this between now and election day. Even though, yes, I am expecting a baby between now and election day, I just, like, I feel like, for the sake of myself, for the sake of my family, for the sake of the country that I love,
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we cannot afford to sit on the sidelines. So I hope you'll join me in getting involved. As always, let's keep Bossin’ in pursuit of our purpose. And as America's First Black Women's Club motto says, let's lift as we climb.
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