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.

@SophieDahling

I’m surprised people are so thrilled by this. It’s not the top job - most people outside of America would struggle to name the VP.

There have been high-profile women of colour before: Condoleeza Rice for example. There are many black politicians in America. They had an incredibly high-profile black First Lady for 8 years.

Aren’t we a little past “if you can’t see it you can’t be it”?

I suspect it’s largely because she’s a Democrat. The Dems didn’t care for Condoleeza’s politics so she didn’t count despite being one of the most powerful women in the world for years.

Have we forgotten to Iraq War already? That’s why Condoleeza Rice isn’t revered...

I really don't care. The less I hear about America the better

Not fully caught up on the thread yet, but I remember a previous thread on here where people were saying that she might actually be worse for women than Trump in an inadvertent way due to her being very woke and pro-trans.

Of course, there's nothing wrong with wanting to 'end violence against trans people', but in the eyes of TRAs I believe that refusing to acknowledge them as 'real' women is considered 'violence'. If this isn't kept in check the US could well end up with self ID where any bloke who declares themselves female can enter women's changing rooms etc unchallenged.

It's nice to see a woman do well in politics, I guess, by which I mean do a good job.

Do I think that's going to happen - not really. Not because she's a woman, but because the Democrats have zero clue about how their toxicity has created a situation where Donald Trump could get elected, and in the next election increase his popularity among everyone but white men.

That can be laid directly at the door of people like the Clintons, and Obama, and Biden, and Harris, who are not friends of the people, but the friends of banks and the ultra-wealthy and big business.

And since they will carry on the same way, it seems, I can only imagine how well a more attractive, intelligent, and well spoken demagogue will do in the near future.

So that all rather overshadows the "oh, nice, it's a woman" business.

[quote AngelicaElizaAndPeggy]@Ritasueandbobtoo9 er, I am a bit confused by your post, yes. Sorry! I am half American if that helps. But don't live there right now.[/quote]
Interesting. You’re the first dual citizen American I’ve heard referring to themselves as “half American”.

Anyway, good for you that the tax treaty with the UK will protect you from all the new taxes that are definitely coming to us,

[quote Aria999]@Jsnn

Did you like how he moved the US embassy to Jerusalem?[/quote]
Yes I do but I understand that not everyone would. The level of anti semitism that exists today is extremely high. Highest it's been for decades.

@Jsnn

Fair play, i'm fairly pro Israel actually but often people who don't like American projection of power are not.

I don't think there were really any obvious wars for him to start so I would not give him too much credit. I'm pretty sure if 9/11 had happened on his watch he would have nuked someone.

Do people understand the president cannot mandate trans laws across the country as the US has a federal system?

This point looks old already.

Biden has already issued an executive order eliminating single-sex sports and spaces. So that's nice.

So no more sports scholarships for girls. That is a huge number of educational opportunities for disadvantaged girls gone in one fell swoop. Just shocking.

Biden is a terrible excuse for a President. He has the same rape allegations and racist policies and embarrassing gaffes that Trump did. There's no improvement there.

Harris, like all Vice Presidents, occupies an almost entirely ceremonial position with no real power outside of certain very unlikely scenarios.

I think Jacinda Ardern is an amazing role model for young girls...don;t think Kamala is particularly ground breaking so far...IMO Michelle Obama was more inspirational...maybe she'll surprise me though.

But nah, can't say I'm overjoyed...just "meh, that's nice". Am overjoyed Trump is gone though. I'd be careful about mixing those emotions

@endofthelinefinally

So no more sports scholarships for girls. That is a huge number of educational opportunities for disadvantaged girls gone in one fell swoop. Just shocking.

But sadly not surprising. This is throwing a bone to the 'liberals' so they don't question some of the more dodgy stuff that they'll inevitably do. Such a depressing start, but as they mean to go on I'm sure.

@Helmetbymidnight

Really? I tried to find info on this but can't. Do you have a link?

@Aria999 www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/01/20/executive-order-preventing-and-combating-discrimination-on-basis-of-gender-identity-or-sexual-orientation/

There is also a thread is FWR on it.

Nothing like a Mumsnet post to put some good old fashioned anti-Americanisms on display. 🙄

I think it’s great and absolutely something to celebrate

As is Biden being President rather than Trump winning a second term

Female heads of state, since ww2, ones in blue are incumbent.

This is political heads not figureheads IE for UK Maggie is on there but not the Queen

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_elected_and_appointed_female_heads_of_state_and_government

Open the tab 'Elected or appointed female chief executive'.

There are loads.

I get that having a black woman as the first black female vice President in USA is a landmark for USA.

I don't feel emotional about it because well I'm not American.

That's fair enough surely.

It's great but I wouldn't get emotional over it.

I am horrified that a woman is willing to be complicit in the dismantling of women's rights.

@AngelicaElizaAndPeggy

...and that's that bubble burst then! Thanks people 😐.

All of the above are valid points, obviously, but ; you have to admit it's a great milestone for women and girls all over the world? Surely you can muster a tiny bit of excitement for that?

Many countries have had female leaders. Why are you expecting the world to celebrate the USA being so far behind the times?

[quote AngelicaElizaAndPeggy]@justanotherlurker - sorry, by idpol do you mean identity politics? I'd kind of hope that her appointment might be the start of a move away from that, where women aren't just represented as a totemic nod but can stand up for themselves, their actions and their opinions in their own right. That may make me totally naïve![/quote]
Ha do you even know what she thinks about things? Harris is not a move away from identity politics ahahahahahahahaha oh god that's hilarious
Your whole post coupled with that idea shows how firmly grounded you and so many others actually are in identity politics. No clue about her views just that she's a women and therefore this must be a Good Thing.

@MrsFogi

I am horrified that a woman is willing to be complicit in the dismantling of women's rights.

This

In general more female representation is a good thing. We are 50% of the population. If we aren't at the table then a load of stuff that affects us is not even crossing the minds of the governments.

Some women are awful. Yes. But no more awful than the men. They just get judged harder. Higher standards from both men and women.

But in general it's better to have more women irrespective of politics because the awful ones are no more awful than the men and in general they do have more interest in stuff that affects women and children. That men in general just don't see as a priority.

Biden is the one who signed the exec order about erm. Title something which referred to sex and a high court said sex should be read to include gender id and self ID is fab. Not this woman

And my guess is that she will have things like reproductive healthcare, the specific challenges faced by black women and other women from ethnic minorities, child abuse CSA etc on her radar because they are always seen as 'women's issues' when they should be societal issues.

Who would be better? The left in the USA is bang up for it. And especially as they don't have the anti discrimination laws in the UK so gay people etc have issues still with work and housing.

It's a different country and context. Yes they have chucked the baby out with the bath water. But who would have been better, I'm guessing no candidate for VP would be anything other than pushing this on.

So this criticism I don't like. Biden signed the order. They're all up for it. The fact she is a woman makes it disappointing. But she will have her eye on other stuff that a similarly woke male vp wouldn't.

Imo.

There should be zero athletic scholarships at American colleges and universities. Colleges and universities exist for education and research. Sports are an overemphasized and unnecessary sideline. Too many schools make football and basketball players into little tin gods; it’s long since time the NBC and NHL ran their own. Not three thousand women in the United States can earn a salary as professional athletes. It’s much better to stick with the main chance.
As for letting trans women play in female segregated sports, it’s loathesome. Trans women have unfair advantage, and aren’t women any more than kittens born in the old wood stove are biscuits.

Thing is and I'm not being nasty or something.

This is a UK site. We have enough on our hands with 4 different countries, multiple languages, complicated history, cultural identities, Brexit, devolved government, NI and the whole trade thing and worries about, well. A lot of things.

I don't know why (maybe someone else knows?) why we have an every increasing number of posters from USA here. And I say, welcome! But although we share a language we are very different countries, thousands of miles apart.

The plight of girls in the USA... Poland just essentially banned abortion. Full stop.

French women are speaking out about incest. In the style of metoo on Twitter. Estimates are that 1 in 10 French (children? Girls? Not sure sorry) have experienced CSA. The stuff in Belarus. All sorts of stuff.

I don't understand why USA posters come here and expect posters to, I dunno. Be the same think the same know the same prioritise the same.

We have a shared language. That's it really.

I've seen threads where this UK site has had posters told to change their language because it means something else in USA. And even when told it means something else by loads of people, not backing down.

It's annoying. Stop it.

Yes yay America first black female vp. Yay for you. We're not American though.