As we all know, I am not a stranger to being called a bitch. Unfortunately ladies, most of us are not, in fact, we are so familiar with the term that we have phone cases, t-shirts, and posters that all reclaim the word. We have taken such a derogatory word and made it positive. The word is no longer an insult, rather a compliment. Women are becoming more and more influential in not only academics by taking STEM majors by storm, but in the workplace as well. Women are moving up to more powerful positions, even becoming managers and big bosses. These are things that thirty years ago women would never even dream of, and this is great! However, there is one place where women have not been doing well regarding moving up in power, and that is politics.

Throughout her entire campaign, people criticized Hillary Clinton in ways that they would never criticize Donald Trump. They targeted her choice in haircuts, the way she looked, people even lost their minds over her choice of pantsuits. Freaking pantsuits, people! For real? This followed her throughout the entire election, and it didn’t stop after November 8th, either. People continued to mock her for her appearance after the election, saying she looked horrible. The woman just spent the last year running a campaign backed by thirty years of experience only to lose to a man with zero qualifications for the most powerful and important position in the United States. To be honest, she looks better than me, and my biggest problem is that I suck at statistics. Give her a break. Sure people have laughed at Donald Trump as well, comparing him to Oompa Loompas and an old cheese doodle, criticizing him for the size of his hands, but none of that was ever to the same magnitude as Hillary.

People laugh at Trump as a joke; people laugh at Hillary out of hatred and disrespect. There’s a difference. It’s just like joking around with your friends versus making a remark on someone you dislike. The first one sounds like this, “Oh my gosh Sarah, stop eating all my chips you’re so fat!” The second one is more like this, “Ew, she’s really fat. She shouldn’t be eating that.” Personally, I find both wrong, but some people see the first quote as a joke and the second as an insult. From what I have noticed from one of my Trump supporter friends, in particular, he has no problem laughing at his candidate until someone else says something about him. Only Trump supporters are allowed to mock their candidate, yet Hillary is fair game? I think it’s time we all grow up.

The point is, I don’t believe that our country is ready for a female president. This is because we are immature to the point where we look at women differently than men and then lie about doing it. When a woman is confident, straightforward, and motivated, she is viewed as and called a bitch. If a man has the same characteristics, he is powerful and would make a successful leader. Women have more empathy and have loving characteristics; a great leader cannot have those qualities in the eyes of so many. These people are dead wrong.

Louis C.K. said it best; it’s time to retire our founding fathers. We have only ever had male presidents, some of them did incredible things, some of them completely blew it. We need a mother in the office because moms are, though many may disagree, the backbone of the family. I was never told to wait for my father to get home when I was bold growing up. Want to know why? My mother always took care of it herself. My mom always knew how to fix every problem that I had and knew just how to settle all the (sometimes minor) disasters in my life. We don’t need another four years of a father, America. I want a mom in the office. Give me the strongest, most powerful of a nasty woman you can. Put the name calling aside, get rid of the criticism, and for the love of all that is mighty grow up and look at her as a human being instead of just a woman. America needs her.