To be really emotional that tomorrow we will have a female Vice President?

[AngelicaElizaAndPeggy]

Everything has been so awful recently that I've kind of overlooked how momentous this is.

Go Kamala Harris and the Biden administration. 🇺🇸

I hope theirs is a force for change and renewal and decency and fairness.

Yes, I am excited.
It's a huge step forward for the USA (even though I would have happily campaigned and voted for Elizabeth Warren, give the opportunity)
I give Biden 2 years before his health fails and The Veep has to take over.

A woman US president would be something to note and be pleased about. Vice President? Not really, and a shame if the first woman US President is by default rather than actually voting in by the electorate.

Meh. It’s so late in the woman as leader game I can’t get too excited about it. Also I don’t get why everyone is so obsessed with American politics (I live in Canada and can literally see America when I drive to work) - it’s a foreign government. Not my circus, not my clowns.

It's great, OP. There are so many firsts/rates for this administration.

Some I realized. Some are surprising; it's stunning to me that Biden is only the second Catholic (since JFK) to be president, especially since 2/3 of SCOTUS is Catholic (although the dynamics are very different).

As for Rachel Levine, she has done an absolutely amazing job as health secretary in Pennsylvania, and her appointment is going to save a lot of lives.

Not all that groundbreaking to me.

YANBU especially to recognise that it has been largely overlooked, though not surprising given that most people's celebrations will be for the end of the Trump presidency.

Surely it's not simply about being a woman, but the kind of woman being propelled into power? What her policies are..where her heart is etc? Or have we sunk so low and become so tokenistic that all that matters is that someone is female and not male? Heaven help us.

@GivingUpAllHope

Surely it's not simply about being a woman, but the kind of woman being propelled into power? What her policies are..where her heart is etc? Or have we sunk so low and become so tokenistic that all that matters is that someone is female and not male? Heaven help us.

Representation can be powerful for people from groups not normally seated in the halls of power. There will be many girls, children of immigrants etc inspired by Kamala Harris to pursue political careers. Diversity of background in leadership contributes to a fairer society.

I think your reaction is a bit over emotional.

I'm more looking at why on earth it has taken US so long, compared to so many other countries who have had women leaders (not just deputies)

@LetItGoGo, wasn’t Edith Cresson the one who appointed friends of hers to highly paid posts - and then said, ‘Everybody in France does it’ ?

I find it odd that people in the UK are so interested in US politics. Struggle to understand the impact of Biden or Harris in a country I know very little about.

Why the assumption MN is exclusively for the UK?
OP its great to see.

I hope she helps the USA calm down. Other than that not really that excited.

I find it odd that people in the UK are so interested in US politics. Struggle to understand the impact of Biden or Harris in a country I know very little about.

I find it odd that someone doesn't understand the impact of US politics on the rest of the world Do you really think that all the countries of the world live in their own little bubble and don't have anything to do with each other, no trade deals, no co-operation on things like climate change etc?

kamala seems a fab likeable very clever women from a minority background- what a great role model - its nice to think its a sign of change.
however, she was on the ticket with biden- would she have been elected as pres? unlikely- americans prefered trump to hilary- i mean thats some extraordinary misogyny there.
and yes biden does seem to be looking at dismantling womens sports, prisons, changing rooms- and all womens sex based rights. why any woman welcomes that is a great mystery to me.

Having lived through the administrations of Reagan, Bush Sr., Clinton, Bush Jr., Obama and now Trump, I think one thing that can safely be said about whoever is in the White House:

Republicans are never quite as bad as we expect - WWIII is still to happen - and Democrats are never quite as good as we expect - they never markedly improve America.

Trump was awful and the damage done by those four years will be felt for many years.

OP, I think it is a good thing. Harris and Biden both have their faults but they will be so much better than Trump. I watched the memorial for the 400k who lost their lives to COVID last night and was very moved. Hopefully, the trans issue will be thoughtfully taken forward. But if not, rather them in power than Trump - it's not like he, and his team, were any good for women was it? I would have preferred Corbyn in power over here for the same reason - although the woke stuff infuriates me, Corbyn, like Biden, would have put everything into helping us through the pandemic, and we might have even seen a woman at the press briefings. No sign of that with Boris - the lack of women is evident in the lack of consideration for working mothers trying to home school and the blatant disregard of older people in care homes. The male billionaires simply don't factor women in at all.

Everyone here acting like America is so far behind other countries - yes between us we have had a handful of female leaders, but the vast majority of leaders and people in politics are men. Nowhere near 50% representation.

Also to those saying Biden and Harris are planning to take away women’s right - do you really think they won’t do better for women than a misogynistic sociopath who likes to “grab women by the pussy”? I think you’ve grown so obsessed with anti trans venom that you’ve lost the ability to see the bigger picture

In response to the OP, yes I think it is brilliant that a female POC is going to be in a top leadership position in one of the worlds great powers. Young girls in America and the world over will look at her and believe they can do it too.

Wow you've certainly stirred up a hornets nest there OP! Who knew so many beds have a wrong side?

Only time will tell but right now I'm with you although not so much because she's a woman but because she's her.

@HerMammy

Why the assumption MN is exclusively for the UK? OP its great to see.

It's a British site with a predominantly British user base.

So yes, British issues dominate.

I always like to see it when people also start to pay attention to the rest of the world beyond UK, Europe and US. But since the Arab Spring that hasn't really happened very much on this site.

And US is very late, in contrast to many other places, in seeing women in leadership roles. Better late than never I suppose

I think it is fantastic that America will have its first female VP (and a BAME one at that).

Yes other countries have/have had female leaders but that doesn’t make this any less significant.

I expect to feel quite emotional when she is sworn in.

”Also to those saying Biden and Harris are planning to take away women’s right - do you really think they won’t do better for women than a misogynistic sociopath who likes to “grab women by the pussy”?”

I don’t know about you, but I think the bar of acceptability for world leaders when it comes to women’s rights should be set an awful lot higher than “better than a misogynistic sociopath who likes to grab women by the pussy”.

im not into 'anti trans venom at all.

ignoring sex in favour of gender identity will have massive and harmful real life consequences for women. in sports, in prisons, in schools, in refuges.

that doesnt mean i love trump ffs. thats an idiots argument- unfortunately it looks like there are a lot of them about.

For fucks sake. Why is everyone so grumpy?!

OP it’s wonderful. Long overdue but wonderful all the same. As Gina Davis says “If you can’t see it, you can’t be it” and there will be millions of girls including girls of colour who now CAN see it.

It upsets me that in the last election people preferred an under qualified showbiz man over a very qualified experienced woman but let’s hope that Harris breaks the mould and shows the US that having a woman in charge is not going to bring the sky tumbling down.