By: Fatma Tawfik, Florence Malorbah Dorley, & Ruhamah Ifere
RepresentWomen’s Global Advocates for Parity (GAP) Network is an online community of professionals working toward gender balance in politics worldwide.
Amidst the 2024 global election super-cycle, spanning 64 countries, the United States presidential race is one of the most observed. The U.S. race was turned upside down by the unexpected participation of a woman in the race: Vice President Kamala Harris. Across the globe, women have already made history. Claudia Sheinbaum became the first elected woman President of Mexico. María Corina Machado, while not a presidential candidate herself, fiercely led the opposition movement against the Maduro dictatorship in Venezuela. In Liberia, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf became Africa’s first woman president.
These examples from the U.S., Mexico, Venezuela, and Liberia paint dramatically different pictures of women participating in politics but still reveal a unifying lesson: Women competing for positions of power is evidently a triumph for the feminist movement in and of itself, but as has been repeatedly shown, women holding those positions of power does not guarantee advancement of a women’s agenda. Analyzing Kamala Harris from an international perspective gives an insight into the election and her as a woman candidate without being affected by internal U.S. politics.
Kamala Harris’s New Vision For The Future and Lessons from Latin America
In the United States, issues like reproductive freedom, the cost of living, climate change, and student loan debt are at the top of many voters' minds. Kamala Harris's candidacy aligns with the concerns of many of these groups and has a proven track record on policies targeting climate change, healthcare, and equality.
But the question remains: Is the U.S. ready to elect a woman to the highest political office?
Internationally, the women’s agenda has been painfully absent in several races. Mexican President Sheinbaum herself has had a tense relationship with the Mexican feminist movement. As Mexico City mayor, she reportedly used tear gas against feminist protesters despite denying it and supported many policies that hurt women the most. On the other hand, in Venezuela, María Corina Machado has not promoted a woman’s agenda or even made her position clear on fundamental issues like sexual and reproductive health.
Unlike her Latin American counterparts, Kamala Harris could work to address the current backsliding of women’s rights in the U.S. Two years after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, 22 states have either banned or increased restrictions on obtaining abortions. Studies have shown the end of legal abortion protections raises maternal, newborn, and infant mortality and teenage births. Between 2018 and 2021, maternal mortality nearly doubled, and mothers living in a state that banned abortion were up to three times as likely to die during pregnancy, childbirth, or soon after giving birth.
The U.S. is the only industrialized country without national paid leave, leaving workers to rely primarily on employer policies for paid family or medical leave. This disproportionately affects women, particularly women of color. Also, while we know that childcare is fundamental to advancing women’s economic security, there are still limited options for parents, particularly mothers who do the bulk of caregiving to balance their work and family responsibilities, despite evidence of billions of dollars lost in earnings, productivity, and revenue yearly.
Kamala Harris has already vowed to push for reproductive rights. She has addressed existing restrictions on reproductive freedom as a severe health crisis, recently announced a plan to set a seven percent cap on working families’ spending on childcare, and affirmed to expand the Child Tax Credit to $6,000 in the first year of a child's life.
Misinformation and the Role of Media: A Throwback to the Campaign for Africa’s First Woman President
Kamala Harris’s candidacy reminds us of the struggles that Africa’s first woman president, President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf of Liberia, faced during her own election. Misinformation was a common denominator between the two women. Johnson-Sirleaf’s victory constituted a monumental achievement in African history, but despite her victory, she faced spiteful gender-based attacks and smear campaigns throughout her term.
Kamala Harris has similarly had to contend with the media amplifying the misinformation claims against her, which have ranged from sewing doubts over her eligibility for the presidency to disputing her racial identity. Harris has also repeatedly endured gender-based attacks that focus on her family life.
Their parallel journeys reflect a broad and disturbing truth: power, specifically presidential power, is still often treated as reserved for men, even in politically advanced countries such as the United States. The campaigns of Johnson-Sirleaf and Harris show that women are often questioned not on their vision or competence but rather on their gender.
A win for Kamala Harris would contrast against a long history of women being excluded from political victory in the U.S. While Harris’ emergence is historic, it's been met with skepticism in a political landscape still dominated by white men. Harris continues to face challenges navigating a media landscape rife with misinformation and hate speech, particularly on social media.
Contextualizing A Harris Win
Kamala Harris's candidacy holds the potential to break barriers globally. However, a common narrative remains: women must prove themselves tenfold to win. The resistance to women’s leadership is not unique to the United States; it spans the world.
In Mexico, Venezuela, Liberia, and the U.S., Claudia Sheinbaum, María Corina Machado, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, and Kamala Harris all serve as beacons of hope for women, demonstrating that change is possible despite entrenched patriarchal norms. The continued sidelining of women in politics, especially leadership, clearly manifests that the fight for gender equality is far from won.
We must address these struggles and make women’s leadership a norm, not an exception. For us to see the lasting change we envisioned, we need to dismantle the systemic structures that uphold male dominance everywhere. We must also hold leaders accountable for addressing women's issues and enforcing women’s agendas.
About the Authors:
Fatma Tawfik is the International Research Manager at RepresentWomen and leads the Global Advocate for Parity Network.
Ruhamah Ifere is the founder of Trully Verify Africa and an award-winning gender equality activist and community peacebuilder with a background in law.
Florence Malorbah Dorley is a gender and women's rights activist who focuses on representation and the management of land and natural resources in Liberia.