Minutes before a triumphant victory rally as the first woman in history to secure a major US party’s Presidential nomination, Hillary Clinton posted a photograph on her Instagram account.
The photograph showed her with a little girl and said: “To every little girl who dreams big: Yes, you can be anything you want – even President. Tonight is for you.”
She later told the rally: “Thanks to you, we’ve reached a milestone. The first time in our nation’s history that a woman will be a major party’s nominee."
Today in a piece for The Conversation, De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) politics lecturer Dr Clodagh Harrington analyses her victory:
In the course of her victorious primary campaign, Clinton has put her gender front and centre. This is a big change from her 2008 run, where she skirted delicately around the fact that she was, in fact, female. But this time around, her gender is an asset to be flaunted.
It’s true that Bernie Sanders polls higher among Democrat women aged 18-29, but looking at overall polling numbers among women, Clinton has the advantage, and older female voters are far more likely to show up at the polls in November.
She also has the advantage of running against a Republican candidate with no qualms about openly attacking her (and other women for that matter) on the basis of her gender. This may not significantly damage Trump’s standing among his core constituency of conservative white men, but it’s a devastating liability among female voters.
Great strides have been made on the gender equality front since 2008, but there is no room for complacency. Progressive legislation during the Obama years includes the Lilly Ledbetter Pay Restoration Act and the reproductive rights elements of the Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”).
The Violence Against Women Act has been reauthorised, and women in every state can now marry each other. Along with the appointment of two female Supreme Court justices, Obama can take much credit for these forward leaps.
Clinton’s candidacy is another chapter in this story. Her primary victory is far from the end of the election story – but the “woman card” has now been well and truly dealt.
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Posted on Thursday 9 June 2016