To get gender equity we need men’s support
US Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.
What you need to know:
- Kamala Harris also announced new members of her White Housesenior staff led by a woman, Tina Flournoy.
- When we have a woman in a position of Kamala’s influence, I think they have a twin mandate.
As the US President-elect Joe Biden’s transition continues, the administration is beginning to take shape with some surprise key appointments.
On Monday, we woke up to the delightful news that the Biden had named an all-female White House communications team to assist the incoming administration in “communicating directly and truthfully to the American people”. The team will be led by Jeniffer Psaki, flanked by Kate Bedingfield and a personal favourite, Symone Sanders.
Biden also announced his economic team led by the first female secretary of the treasury Janet Yellen, who is expected to seamlessly sail through the vetting process owing to vast experience, enormous intelligence and impeccable credentials.
Yellen was appointed along with three other women who will help Biden-Harris steer the country out of an economic crisis.
Kamala Harris also announced new members of her White Housesenior staff led by a woman, Tina Flournoy.
If the Biden-Harris administration will be the saving grace America needs to heal the deep racial division and economic crisis, it will also be the hallmark of a new era of gender equality, diversity and inclusivity.
Substantial positions
By involving women in his administration, Biden signals a new world order and a breath of fresh air that shifts from the one, lonesome, token female appointment to actually including women at every level of decision making.
It is one thing to have the decadal female appointment to a key position, it is another to appoint several women in key substantial positions of power in a scale big enough to be consequential in generations to come.
The other way to look at it is that this is exactly what must happen when women lead. When we have a woman in a position of Kamala’s influence, I think they have a twin mandate. First, is the obvious one, to get the job done.
Two, and more important, is to open the door for other women—to send the elevator down—for younger women to scale the heights they have. Kamala, in her victory speech after the election was called in Biden’s favour, said, “I may be the first woman in this office, but I will not be the last”. May I add that Kamala’s quote was adopted from one of her late mother Shyamala Gopalan’s quotes: “You may be the first to do many things, but make sure you are not the last”.
Finally, we must involve men—powerful men—in the empowerment of women. I was deeply disturbed when I saw some negative comments from men regarding the all-female communications team.
They failed to see the point; that the key to having more women in leadership is having the buy-in of more powerful men who will appoint them to these positions and provide support for them to excel. Simply, this push for gender equality is futile without the support of men.
