A woman of color: new hope for America

The call of the time is diversity, inclusiveness, and equal opportunity. Everywhere else in the world, it has been demonstrated that there is nothing that men can do that women cannot. There is nothing that white men can do that men or women of color cannot. The candidacy of a colored Asian-American woman sparks a new wave of hope and excitement across America and the world.

After all, America is the land of boundless opportunities. It is not just the home of the brave and the land of the free. It is not only the land of milk and honey. It is a nation of immigrants where people from all over the world, including the Philippines, go to seek better lives, to pursue higher dreams and look for a place where their children and their children's children shall be assured of higher quality of life. There are, at the very least, five million Filipinos in the US today, and I am referring to those documented only. This is also the land where the father of Barack Obama, from Kenya, met his mother in Hawaii and where the mother of Kamala Harris met a Puerto Rican in California.

The US has had 46 presidents since George Washington was elected as America's first and held that office from 1789 to 1797 until Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump and became the 46th president holding office from 2021 to 2025. But there has never been a woman. The Philippines has had two women in Malacañang already, Corazon C. Aquino in 1986 and GMA in 2001. But it is only now that America faces a very strong probability that a woman can ascend to the White House, not as a first lady but as president. Hillary Clinton tried it in 2016 but Donald Trump frustrated her dream. It was Kamala Harris who made history as the first woman vice president and may soon break another barrier by winning the presidential polls come November.

In 1960, Sirimimavo Bandaranaike was elected prime minister of Ceylon, later named Sri Lanka, and she held that office until 1965. She was reelected twice, and held office from 1970 to 1977, and from 1994 to 2000. Indira Gandhi was elected prime minister of India and held office twice: first from 1966 to 1977 then from 1980 to 1984 when she was assassinated while in office. During one of the most turbulent years in the history of the Jewish state, Israel elected Golda Meir who held that office with true grit and guts from 1969 to 1974. There was also rising social unrest and political turbulence in Argentina, and they voted Isabel Peron as president from 1974 to 1976. The first woman and perhaps the best prime minister of the UK was Margaret Thatcher, the original Iron Lady, who held office for more than 11 years from 1979 to 1990. Jacinda Ardern was prime minister of New Zealand from 2017 to 2023.

There were more than 50 other women of the world who led their countries and governments. They include Benazir Bhutto of Pakistan who was elected twice, Chandrika Kumaratunga of Sri Lanka who held office for almost 12 years, Sheik Hasina Wazed who first governed from 1996 to 2001 and then from January 2009 to August 5, 2024 or for 15 years and 212 days. She had to flee the country due to extreme violence and political unrest. Helen Clark was prime minister of New Zealand from 1999 to 2008. Megawati Sukarnoputri was president of Indonesia, from 2001 to 2004, the first and only female to occupy that position. Angela Merkel was chancellor of Germany for 16 years and 16 days from 2005 to 2021.

Julia Gillard was prime minister of Australia from 2010 to 2013. Yingluck Shinawatra was elected prime minister of Thailand from 2011 to 2014. As of today, there are more than 20 women who head their states or governments respectively. And so after 235 years, America should be ready by now for a woman as head of state and head of government. The whole world is excited to see a woman in the White House as president of the greatest nation on earth.