Okay everyone just chill for a second. This is not an article where I will boast about Hillary Clinton and endorse her for President or something. I am not going to express my political views in this article because I think that right now it's not my place to do so. This is not about whether I like Clinton or Sanders, or whether I like Trump (I don't), or a piece where I will try to convince everyone to try to vote for whomever I will vote for. This is about Hillary Clinton being the first woman to be the Presidential nominee for a major political party in the United States of America.
This is not about her ideals, or her ties to Wall Street or anything like that. This is about the fact that Hillary is the first woman EVER to be the Presidential nominee for the Democratic Party. Still not impressed even though I've said it twice? Okay, let me give you a little context. Before the 1840s, women were not allowed to work outside the home; their only job was to look after the children and keep the house clean. During that decade, about 10% of women held a job outside their home. Nowadays, according to the 2010 census, 67% of mothers have jobs.
In the 1840s, women in the United States started protesting for the right to vote; however, it wasn't until 1920 that women were given the right to vote to a national level in America. Sixty years went by until women were allowed the right to vote; a right that had been given to men since forever. Jeanette Rankin, the first woman to be elected to Congress, served from 1917-1919. Rebecca Felton was the first woman Senator and she only served for one day in 1922. However, the first woman elected to the Senate was Hattie Caraway in 1932. Currently, this has changed quite a lot: 20 out of the 100 Senators, 84 out of 435 people in the House of Representatives, and 104 out of the 535 members of Congress are women. Quite a difference, isn't it?
You are still not impressed? Okay, listen to this then. Did you know that until 1993 marital rape was still legal in some states in America? In other words, did you know that up until 1993 women could not charge their husbands with rape because "every husband has a right to have sex with his wife whenever he feels like it"? Did you know that up until 1920 domestic violence was legal in the United States? Your husband/boyfriend could beat you as much as he wanted and there was nothing that you as a woman could do, because guess what: you were his property. Did you know that in the 1900s women could only attend a university if there was enough space left after all the men had registered? Imagine not being able to go to school to study because all the spots were full and you were not worthy enough for them to open up more spots. How do you feel now?
My point is that having Hillary Clinton as the Presidential nominee for the Democratic party is a huge deal! It's okay if you don't like her politics or her ideals, and it's okay if you don't want to vote for her because you plainly don't like her. That's not the point here. The point is that less than 100 years ago women could still be beaten by their partners, we couldn't all go to college, we didn't have the right to vote, let alone be in Congress or the Senate. Twenty-three years ago women could still be raped by their husbands because we were still seen as their property. And now here we are in the year 2016 and a woman is the presidential nominee for the Democratic Party. You might not like Hillary Clinton, but you have to admit that this is a very big deal. She has made history whether you like it or not, and she has hit a huge milestone for women in the history of the United States.
So to you, Hillary, I say: thank you for showing everyone that women are not anyone's property, but sentient human beings who are VERY capable of running a country. You have made history...no wait, I meant HERstory. Cheers to you.
