About a century ago, American women would have remained at home while two white men contested the US election. They were not allowed to vote, and the thought of them contesting as President of the world’s most powerful nation would have seemed incredibly abstract, almost as unimaginable as taking humans to the moon.
A lot has changed since women in the US were given rights that, for centuries, remained a male privilege. Women could smoke freely, an act that was taboo in America until 1929. Women could vote, a reality that is less than 105 years old, despite the country holding its first Presidential election 132 years prior. Women could contest for political positions and own businesses.
In more ways than can be named, a woman who lived in the 1900s would be astonished by the freedom modern women enjoy.
While women strive and excel in various aspects of life, from business to academics, women are not as free as men or can’t aim as high as men, even in some of the world’s most developed countries like America.
It is with utmost caution that I wade into this ongoing discussion of gender equality. It is a discussion that, no matter how logical and factual, often pits different genders against each other.
But with Donald Trump’s historic victory in the November 5 US election, this matter, uncomfortable as it always will be, needs to be revisited, with a faint hope that a more holistic conversation can be had.
A Misogynist Man Who Wins By Perpetuating Prejudice Against Women
To start with, the only time Donald Trump lost an election was against a male opponent.
In 2015, towards the end of Barack Obama’s first administration, Donald Trump, a white male with a loud mouth, emerged as a fierce critic of Obama’s administration. He questioned the obvious and alleged the impossible, including that Obama was not born in America.
Not many took him seriously.
But, as we’ve come to witness, he’s one not to be underestimated, not because of the brilliance of his ideas, but because of his unhinged rhetoric, particularly when attacking those he feels are beneath him.
As the 2016 campaign trail began, the Democrats chose Hillary Clinton, a woman of extraordinary accomplishments, style, dignity, and outspokenness.
In ordinary circumstances, Hillary Clinton would be a formidable opponent who could defeat any political opponent, regardless of their credentials. She was a former First Lady, Secretary of State during Barack Obama’s tenure, and a New York senator for eight years.
But she was a woman. Transfer her records to a male, realistically a white male contestant, and imagine Hillary Clinton losing to Donald Trump, who, until that point, had no political experience. Could you imagine it? In fact, Trump’s career as a TV Reality ‘star’, though he was a billionaire who made lots of money by evading tax, was mildly successful.
But Trump will leverage the accumulated years of women being regarded as second citizens – one that’s created grains of inextinguishable sentiments that cry ‘women are below men’ – and campaign vigorously on that bias, to gain votes from men, particularly white men.
Donald Trump, for want of a more befitting word, speaks, in both words and action, to male ego – that innate sentiment that made some parents ask their sons ‘why did you let a girl take the first position.’
In many ways, it’s subtle – name-calling, either ‘crooked’ for Hillary or ‘bitch’ or ‘demonic Jezebel’ for Harris. At other times, he invokes that unspeakable sentiment loudly to portray himself as a better candidate by virtue of being a ‘dominant male.”
In 2015, during an interview with Rolling Stone, Donald Trump discredited the credibility of his key rival in the primary election, Carly Fiorina, for nothing other than being a woman.
“Look at that face! Would anyone vote for that? Can you imagine that, the face of our next president? I mean, she’s a woman, and I’m not supposed to say bad things, but really, folks, come on. Are we serious?”
His belittling of women goes deeper, vocally echoing his belief that women exist for men’s pleasure.
“If Hillary Clinton can’t satisfy her husband, what makes her think she can satisfy America #MakeAmericaGreatAgain,” Trump tweeted in April 2015. He later deleted the post.
In an unreleased recording made by “Access Hollywood,” later published by Washington Post and NBC News in October 2016, he said:
“When you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything.” He adds seconds later: “Grab them by the p—-. You can do anything.”
Here are more of his comments that degrade women:
“A person who’s flat-chested is very hard to be a 10, OK?” – 2005
“It doesn’t really matter what (the media) write as long as you’ve got a young and beautiful piece of ass.” – 1999
“I saw a woman who was totally beautiful. She was angry that so many men were calling her. ‘How dare they call me! It’s terrible! They’re all looking at my breasts.’ So she had a major breast reduction. The good news: Nobody calls her anymore — nobody even looks — and not only that, it was a terrible job.” (2008)
He was totally unhinged during his presidential contest with Hillary, making derogatory comments and evoking admiration from men who feel threatened by a woman’s presidency.
Unsurprisingly, he won, thanks in part to the men’s vote.
Although Hillary won the popular vote by nearly 3 million, exit polls showed the former Reality TV star won 52% of men’s votes, particularly men 45 years and older.
In the 2020 presidential election against Joe Biden, Trump also appealed to men, winning 53% of their votes. He lost the race in both popular and electoral votes.
Four years after Americans voted him out of the White House, he vied again for the seat. Luckily for him, his opponent was a woman, a gender he assesses and values based on physical appearance rather than intellectual capabilities.
As in 2016, he echoed familiar biases against women, repeatedly calling Kamala Harris, the Vice President, a former US prosecutor, and Senator, a bitch.
But what does that term mean?
Bitch is often used to describe women who defy traditional gender expectations, especially when perceived as assertive, ambitious, or independent. This usage is inherently sexist, as similar behaviors in men might not face the same criticism.
According to him, perhaps because Harris is a woman, he believes she’d be “like a play toy” to world leaders.
“She’ll be so easy for them. … They look at her and say, ‘We can’t believe we got so lucky.’ They’re going to walk all over her.”
He added, “I don’t want to say why, but a lot of people understand it.”
I sincerely don’t understand how a former US attorney who made her career prosecuting criminals would be used as a play toy. What does he even mean by ‘play toy?’
Trump has used words like nasty, crazy, and disrespectful, terms dominant men often use to describe women who challenge their male ego.
Unsurprisingly, Trump found a running mate, Senator JD Vance, who shares similar sentiments. Vance referred to childless women politicians as “a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices they’ve made, and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable, too.”
The duo will propel gender and race hate across the campaign trail to win American votes. Trump even questioned if Harris was a Black woman.
Is a win for the billionaire, who has declared bankruptcy six times, but is it a win for the genuine fight for gender equality, the fight for women to be treated as human, and not an object for men’s pleasure?
It’s a win for Donald Trump, who faces felony charges for his actions with adult actress Stormy Daniels. But is it a win for women not to be seen as mere sex objects?
Trumps Wins Might Set Equality Struggle Backwards by Decades
On January 20, 2025, Donald Trump would be sworn in as America’s 47th President, but the failure of US citizens to elect its first female president, might have sent equality fights decades back.
Just as recently as 64 years ago, no country had a female President or Prime Minister until Sirimavo Bandaranaike became Prime Minister of Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) in 1960 after her husband’s assassination. Much has changed since.
By 1990, only 16 countries had been led by women. Change accelerated, and by 2024, 175 women have led as heads of state or government across 87 countries.
However, most women leaders are in parliamentary systems, not directly elected.
According to UN Women adviser Julie Ballington, since 2020, only Honduras and Mexico have elected women heads of state in presidential systems. Seven women achieved this in semi-presidential systems, where power is shared. In parliamentary and semi-presidential systems combined, 27 women have become heads of government.
This shows barriers rooted in bias and stereotypes that women face in presidential systems.
Trump reinforced these biases. It saddens me that Americans listened. Even more disheartening is that 54% of my fellow men listened to these stereotypes against women, and elected him president yet again.
