Yes She Can: A Moment For Women To Find Common Ground

Yes She Can:  The Moment For Women To Find Common Ground

Hillary Clinton spoke at the Democratic National Convention, perhaps finally receiving the support and affirmation she expected but didn’t get during her run for President in 2016.  “Lock him up” was the politically sensitive ― but undoubtedly satisfying ― chant of the delegates.

But Vice President Kamala Harris may well succeed where Hillary did not ― that may in part be due to the strengths and weaknesses of each women but it may also be a sign of a change of the times. Somehow in 2024 the image of a woman President isn’t quite as unfamiliar as it was in 2008 or 2016, perhaps because during the intervening years women in power have become far more visible in our lives and on our TV screens (or our phones, but that is another generational divide for another post).  And of course Clinton herself let us imagine a woman president for the very first time.  If Harris wins, it will still be groundbreaking ― but in recent years the question of a woman President has shifted from “whether” to “when.”  A satisfying and groundbreaking change.

Nonetheless, there is an increasingly vocal group of social advocates who find this result not only troubling but indeed antithetical to the very survival of civilization as we know it. If women are not home having children, how will our society continue to grow?  People are dying in greater numbers than they are being born.  Immigration is a very plausible answer to many, but it is entirely objectionable to others.  (Recall Trump’s assertion that immigrants are “poisoning the blood” of our nation ― a statement with so many Hitler overtones that it is just plain scary that he feels comfortable making it at all).

It hasn’t been talked about all that much, but in some ways Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris represent a generational passing of the torch from the Baby Boomer women, the breakers of glass ceilings everywhere, to the women of Generation X, the women who have lived with the results of those efforts ― sometimes happily, sometimes less so.  (Vice President Harris, born in October 1964, is just two months short of the 1965 Generation X “official” start).

Given their very different life experiences, these two generations have at times found themselves in conflict. Baby Boomers had to prove they could do everything.  They were energized by the challenges they faced (and won), despite having to operate within an environment designed for the lives of men.  But Generation X has often been exhausted by the fruits of Baby Boomers’ successes, leading Baby Boomers to wonder whether these women truly appreciate the sheer magnitude of the effort to gain the privileges they now enjoy.   To fight so hard for something, only to have those who benefit from that fight to question whether the fight was really worth it, is bound to foster resentments.

For their part, the women of Generation X at times are offended by what they perceive as judgment by the women who came before them, discovering antagonism where they anticipated support and mentorship.  The issues are far more complex than this of course and there are many, many instances of mutual respect, mentorship and alliances.   But I think it is fair to say that tensions and misunderstandings exist.

But like the Democrats have discovered, now is the time to come together.  Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris, both examples of the very best of their generations, have faced and continue to face the unique challenges of women wielding power.   Hillary was the torch bearer but Kamala may ultimately win the prize.

Harris may indeed have a more supportive audience in liberal (and even conservative) circles. But she also must contend with the far right conservatives who are emboldened, no longer contained within fringe internet groups but instead now deemed in some circles as intellectuals protecting the very survival of the American citizenry.

In this environment, women continue to outperform men in school and at work ― they prove that yes, we can do it all and we can even do it better ― and this accomplishment has spawned an angry backlash from some men who resent the shift in both gender roles and the rules of acceptable behavior.   The proudly politically incorrect Trump is the light in the darkness for these men and they find comfort in his championing of maleness in its most stereotypical and its most muscle focused form. (There is nothing subtle about Hulk Hogan).

The current environment feels, at least to me, increasingly aggressive ― scarily so.  Barely disguised misogyny has somehow entered political discourse.  The idea that women have a civic obligation to bear children is proposed under the protective cloak of substantive political theory.  Our right to control decisions about our bodies has been diminished.   And this is all within the democracy of the United States.  Outside of this country, some women are not even allowed to pursue a higher education and are subjected to all sorts of injustices, some unspeakably cruel.

The world that women now find themselves in calls for the collective efforts of all women, regardless of generation.   Women of Generation X face the uncomfortable reality that rights they were born with are being taken away.  They too must now fight for the right to choose, as did the women who came before them not so long ago.  If there was ever a moment to put aside our differences, a moment that allows us to embrace a shared goal, this is it.   We have an opportunity to embrace a challenge that can join us rather than dwell on the experiences that divide us.   

To understand another person is often the way we reconcile with them ― once we are able to put ourselves in their shoes, we are better able to see the world through their eyes.   So let’s try.  Today we see grandmothers, mothers and daughters standing together at pro choice protests, all with signs held high in the air.  In the words of Michelle Obama, “yes she can.”