Sunday, May 25, 2008 Sun.Star Essay: That woman bit By Erma M. Cuizon
THE way it looks, things are starting to show---that America can’t accept a woman president, not yet, said Filipino female friends in the US who voted for Hillary in the primaries.
This fight for a party nomination in the US would be the first of its kind---first woman, first black, first fight between the young and the oldish, first election or decision for nomination that breaks families in two in the voting.
A New Yorker Pinoy friend is for Hillary, like anything. And she says she’s going home to Manila if Hillary can’t make it. She related an interesting thing about her recent trip to Europe with a boy friend who is voting for Barack. They spent a quarter time of the trip quarreling over the nominees. But their companions, Americans on vacation, also argued over Hillary and Barack, there seemed nothing else to talk about.
A niece in California, during a bus ride from the hospital where she works, heard a woman co-passenger say to another, “If Hillary wins, I move to Ecuador!”
Out from this interesting mood of eeny, meeny, miny, mo come stories of anguish in voters. In the general election, voters probably can’t care much about voting for a person, it’s more comfortable to vote for a party, you’re expected to be a Democrat or a Republican, period. But in the choice of the nominee, it’s a person you vote for. And it brings on such soul-searching, you’d think that is the only big decision in life you have to make.
In a March Newsweek forum issue are stories of many regarding the primaries. One Raina Kelley, an African-American, was always for Hillary from the beginning. But the family and friends started questioning her stand, urged her to vote for Barack. On the day of the primary in her state, the family asked who she was really voting for. Why would anyone want to know?
“I cannot help but feel that my character hangs in the balance. If I vote for Hillary, I am turning my back on my race, or, worse, I’m a self-hating black. If I vote for Barack, I am forsaking women and any hope of gender equality---ever. For the first time in my life, I wish I were a white man.”
Raina ended up not voting in the primary, although she lied to friends and said she did. Yes, she feels guilty.
A Filipina writer in San Francisco sent an email, asking to be excused for not getting in touch often enough. She’s volunteering for Barack Obama’s presidential campaign “and it’s keeping me so busy!”
Another friend, a Cebuana in New York who walks around with an Obama button clipped to her coat, says, “I’ve gone down to (Obama’s) headquarters along Fulton street to volunteer to do the phones and do data entry for the day.” She says a mutual friend, who’s supporting Hillary, has stopped talking to her. Lastly, she says if Barack doesn’t win, she’d move to Australia.
The campaign could be daft. In dameonline.net, an office woman said, “I think we just need a more peaceful time to have our first woman president. There's too much going on right now.” Meaning, choose a woman only if things are spring and roses because a woman can’t handle big problems at all.
Yet another female voter swore, “I want to live in a country where being female is not considered a massive obstacle to holding the highest office in government.”
And still another said, “How sad is it that, in this nation that imagines itself such an enlightened world power, our young women cannot imagine a female president?”
Then you would think back, going through the list of female presidents and prime ministers in the 20th century---over 40 women who include Margaret Thatcher (UK), Indira Gandhi (India), Golda Meir (Israel). Even Iceland is a nation in the list with a female head. Bangladesh, too. And Jamaica. Besides the Philippines, of course.
So, when will an American woman wear the pants or break that political glass ceiling? The US never had it so thorny on election year while it stands along countries like Myanmar in terms of male control.
