For nearly three centuries since the USA gained their independence from the Great Britain on July 4, 1776, the world’s superpower, champions of democracy, and defenders of human rights and freedoms as well as overseers of the world peace have never had a female President.
On record, for many years, the US has had very intelligent and powerful female leaders including but not limited to Victoria Woodhull, the first female presidential candidate in 1872; Hillary Clinton, the first woman to win the national popular votes in 2016; and being nominated for presidency by a major political party but all lost to their male counterparts.
This has left many political analysts wondering why women have failed to succeed in the US politics especially the top most position of the presidency. Some analysts claim that the negative perceptions from the public, political elites and the media using the masculine and feminine stereotypes have hindered women to compete for political positions.
However, the rise of Harris Kamala to the US political scene is seen by different analysts and political commentators as a game changer for women in the history of the country’s leadership and administration.
She began her career as the district attorney or top prosecutor for Alameda County and, from 2004 to 2011, for the city of San Francisco.
Her next promotion was as California’s Attorney General, becoming the first woman and first black person elected to serve as the top lawyer in America’s most populous state.
Kamala used that momentum to see her successful 2016 run as California’s next US senator. This helped her gain political and leadership experience and eventually picked interest in presidential role.
By 2020 Kamala was very popular in the many popular states and saw her launch her presidential bid which was not successful. However, her fellow democrat and the current US president Joe Biden had trust in her and was able to add her to his ticket as a run mate.
After Biden’s victory, he appointed Kamala as his Vice-president becoming the first female black Vice-president in the history of the US.
Kamala was born in Oakland, California to two immigrant parents, an Indian-born mother and Jamaican-born father. Her parents divorced when she was five years old and she was raised together with her young sister Maya by their single mother.
She wrote in her autobiography “The Truths We Hold” and confesses that her mother taught them to be courageous, ambitious and feel proud of their origin and background.
“My mother understood very well that she was raising two black daughters. She knew that her adopted homeland would see Maya and me as black girls and she was determined to make sure we would grow into confident, proud black women” an extract from The Truths We Hold.
Due to her poor background and black origin, this has earned her support especially from the black dominant states and could see her take up the top most position and making history as the first female President of the US.
