(AFP) – For the second time in eight years, a woman has won the Democratic nomination for US president, only to come up short in a campaign where gender was a central issue. Like Hillary Clinton in 2016, Kamala Harris had a shot at becoming the first woman to occupy the Oval Office but stumbled at the final hurdle. While the charisma of their opponent — Donald Trump, in both cases — clearly played a role in these historic defeats, many observers also saw misogyny as a factor.
In their dueling campaigns, Harris and Trump laid out starkly different visions for women’s status and rights. Trump, who has faced multiple accusations of sexual assault he denies, sought to broadcast a hypermasculine image, appearing alongside mixed martial artists and offering praise for autocratic world leaders. He and his campaign surrogates also made multiple comments that were criticized as insulting or contemptuous of women. He called Harris “crazy” and “mentally disabled,” and claimed she would be “like a play toy” for other world leaders if elected. His running mate, Ohio Senator J.D. Vance, doubled down on a quip he made in 2021 about “childless cat ladies” running the country, saying, “I’ve got nothing against cats.” Trump also presented himself as a “protector” of women, saying he would protect them whether they “like it or not.”
Harris, by contrast, relied heavily on female celebrities such as Beyoncé, Jennifer Lopez, Lady Gaga, and Oprah Winfrey, betting that they would help her reach even conservative women voters. Harris did not campaign openly on the fact that she would have been the first female president of the United States. But she made the defense of women’s rights, and abortion in particular, one of the cornerstones of her campaign. This does not appear to have won over enough moderately conservative women.
At a campaign rally last month, former first lady Michelle Obama denounced the apparent double standard by which the two White House candidates were judged. “We expect her to be intelligent and articulate, to have a clear set of policies, to never show too much anger, to prove time and time again that she belongs,” she said of Harris. “But for Trump, we expect nothing at all. No understanding of policy, no ability to put together a coherent argument, no honesty, no decency, no morals.”
The Center for American Women and Politics also pointed to that double standard in a statement on Trump’s victory. Harris had been a “formidable fundraiser” who “connected with voters,” it said. “Unfortunately, this contest also exemplified research on the obstacles women face when running for office, chief among them the unequal expectations placed upon women, and women of color in particular, who run for office.” Women have held “every political office in America. Except one,” it continued, vowing: “The work continues.”
– Marion THIBAUT
© 2024 AFP
