It is 11:56 p.m. and I am trying to document exactly what I am doing on July 28, 2016 for as long as possible. I am trying my hardest to remember the past two hours because I want to make sure that I can tell my daughter about this night and I want to make sure that I can tell my son how great the country he grew up in is because of its hope for equality. Tonight, Hillary Rodham Clinton became the first woman to be nominated by a major party for President of The United States.
Moments like tonight are inspirational, monumental and emotional regardless of one's political ideology because history was made on a stage in Philadelphia. Tonight is equivalent to July 4, 1776; January 31, 1865; July 16,1969; and August 28, 2008. On each of these dates the country celebrated not as Democrats or Republicans, but instead as Americans and I only hope tonight is treated in the same way.
Tonight is a night that this country has been working towards since 1848 when Elizabeth Cady Stanton organized the first Seneca Falls convention to discuss women’s rights and draft the Declaration of Rights and Sentiments. Approximately five years later, Susan B. Anthony joined the movement and together they led and fought for the woman’s right to vote. However, that right was not universally granted until August 18, 1920, when Congress passed the 19th amendment. A little irony about that date is that the senators belonging to the Democratic Party held a filibuster against the ratification and that is the very same party that tonight nominated the first women president. However, the fight the American women fought did not stop at the right to vote instead it was just beginning.
In the '60s, the Women’s Rights Movements began to advocate once again. This time looking for liberation from men, attempting to look past the role of house makers, fighting for safe workspaces and taking a stand on anti-war policies. Women across the country began offering childcare services for working mothers, establishing domestic abuse hotlines and woman operated newspapers.
In 1972 a big change came when women were granted equal access to higher education. Leading to more women becoming doctors, lawyers and engineers. Women began to make an impact and influence change in places they previously were excluded from. In the same year, a poll was conducted and only 26 percent of men said they would vote for a women president a large contrast to today’s 83 percent of men approval. That same year the Equal Rights Amendment was set for ratification by the states in order to correct unequal treatment of women: less pay than men, inability to get credit cards, and double standards when it came to social issues.
Since then women have continued to fight for reproductive rights, the right to serve our country, leadership positions in Corporate America and protection from sexual harassment and violence. Today, women are still learning to overcome these obstacles, but they are much smaller than the ones our ancestors had to face. Tonight, however, serves as a momentous occasion because the great-great-great-great-granddaughter of a woman who was denied the right to vote is running for President of the United States.
Not only does Hillary Clinton being named the nominee fulfill the hopes of our past but she also ignites hope for the future. As a girl who always dreamed of sitting in the oval office and speaking in front of congress, I am proud and reinvigorated. For several years, I had lost sight of that dream because I fell for the cynical outlook us, girls and women, are presented with. Girls and women must be gentle and obedient, we are not allowed to go out at night alone while our brothers can, we will always be treated a little less like a person because of the sex we were born as. All ideas, which I strongly disagree with and feel, are slowly going away.
This cynicism came as I began to participate in speech and debate. An activity I in no way intended to disrespect because it has shaped my life and continues to influence me. However, in the arena of political debates men are told to be loud and assertive while women are called b*tchy or rude for the same behavior. In the arena of political debates women are told to wear a skirt, heels, tights, a light colored shirt underneath, makeup and their hair down while men are simply told to wear a suit. In the arena of political debates, my ideas were discredited and questions ignored because of the 12 to 3 men to women ratio. However, when people like Ruth Bader Ginsburg serve on the Supreme Court, Shonda Rhimes creates television shows with female leads or Hillary Clinton who delivers a breathtaking speech to accept her nomination for President, I can not help but re-evaluate my cynicism.
In this moment I am no longer barred down by what society told me instead I dream of being a lawyer, Senator, and even standing on a stage and watching red, white and blue balloons fall around me after I am nominated to be president. I look at my best friend, cousins and women around the country with tears in my eyes rejoicing in this moment knowing that when we all go to bed tonight we will be equal and so will future generations. Hillary Clinton and other change makers assure me that my little sister and my future daughters will be born into a country where they will be treated the same way as their brothers or husband. They will be born knowing that anything is possible because in the words of Secretary Clinton herself, “When there are no ceilings, the sky is the limit.” They will know that you can be a mother and still work, you can embrace your sexuality without being a man's object of pleasure and that they too can be president.
It is not hard to see why I hope to remember this day for the rest of my life and forever feel unstoppable. In my eyes, Hillary Rodham Clinton’s speech is the modern day, "I Have A Dream Speech" and something my children will hear when they are growing up. Tonight is not just for democrats or women. Tonight is for Americans, whether men or women, young or old, republican, democrat or independent. Tonight is for everyone because the land of the free became a little freer reminding us no one can accomplish such monumental change alone. As Secretary Clinton ended her speech with a quote from Hamilton I would like to end this the same way, “And when our children tell our story they will tell the story of tonight.”
“The lesson [my mother] passed on to me, years later, stuck with me: No one gets through life alone. We have to look out for each other and lift each other up. And she made sure I learned the words from our Methodist faith: Do all the good you can, for all the people you can, in all the ways you can as long as ever you can.” – Hillary Clinton in her Acceptance Speech.
“Standing here as my mother’s daughter, and my daughter’s mother, I’m so happy this day has come. Happy for grandmothers and little girls and everyone in between. Happy for boys and men because when any barrier falls in America, it clears the way for everyone." – Hillary Clinton in her Acceptance Speech.
“Whatever party you belong to, or if you belong to no party at all, if you share these beliefs, this is your campaign.” – Hillary Clinton in her Acceptance Speech.
