Why Trump’s election win has made me angry
What you need to know:
I am not only angry but afraid for the girls who harbour dreams of being bigger than their physical attributes and gender.
They have been deflated.
A man who thinks women are “things” has been validated by the biggest democracy.
Even when his party members distanced themselves after his sexist comments came to light, voters went ahead and legitimised him.
The hardest pill for me to swallow in the aftermath of the US presidential election is not that Hilary Clinton lost. It is that Donald Trump won.
On Friday, January 20, 2017, president-elect Donald Trump will take over the reins from Barack Obama. I refuse to give Trump the same honour, respect and reverence I have given Obama over the eight years he has been POTUS. I have admired Obama not just for his policies, politics and charisma, but also for the love and regard he has for his wife Michelle and his daughters.
In contrast, Trump thinks women are only good for their looks – and the only women worth taking a seat at the table are the pretty ones. He once told a reporter, “We could say, to be politically correct, that looks don’t matter, but the look obviously matters. Like you wouldn’t have your job if you weren’t beautiful.”
Never mind how many degrees a woman has under her belt, or how much experience, knowledge and insight she can bring to the table. She is only worth it if she is decorating the table, not eating off it.
SEXIST LEADER
It would seem that America is as sexist as its new leader. For all her faults, Hilary Clinton is a trained lawyer and advocate for women. She has been in and around politics since she married Bill Clinton in 1975. She has served as US Secretary of State since 2009.
On qualifications alone, she beats tax-evading, gambling empire king Trump, who can’t even articulate his way around the policies he hopes to introduce to the country. But when it came down to the wire, America chose the qualifications-challenged man over the trained and experienced woman.
I am not only angry, but afraid for the message this sends to girls with ambition who harbour dreams of being bigger than just their physical attributes and their gender. They have been deflated. A man who thinks women are ‘things’ has been validated by the biggest democracy in the world.
Even when his own party members distanced themselves after sexist comments he made came to light, the voters still went ahead and legitimised him. It has been 86 years since the Suffragette Movement was launched and 21 years since the epic Women’s World Conference in Beijing, and it looks like we will have to start the war all over again.
DOES NOT THINK WOMEN DESERVE EQUAL PAY
While his policies regarding women’s rights are largely a problem for the American populace, his views influence not just US foreign trade policy (which has so far been advantageous to women in sub-Saharan Africa), but also the way other world leaders think about women.
He does not think women deserve equal pay for equal work. He does not think women should have sexual agency. This may mean no more US government-funded reproductive health projects, and if America can get away with paying women 20 per cent less for the same work men do, who are other world leaders to do different?
But above all, I am angry that in this day and age, a woman will still not be chosen, as worthy as she is. A woman will never be forgiven her transgressions while we go to all lengths to whitewash a man. A woman won’t even be forgiven her husband’s sins, as if she is the one who made him have all those affairs.
But, above all, no matter how hard she works and focused she is, our sexist world system will only allow women to get this close to shattering the glass ceiling before they are politely shown back to their spot as a table decoration.
