Can There Be a Woman President?

I remember when I was in first grade, and a girl in my class asked the teacher if there would ever be a woman President.

The teacher, a woman, said "No, because men will never take orders from a woman."

Now, I was pretty young at the time, but I remember thinking "That seems stupid." After all, back then it was just me and my Mom, and she was the strongest, smartest, hardest working person I knew. Most of the women in my life seemed more than capable of being in charge of pretty much anything, including that first grade teacher. And I listen to them all the time, I thought, so why wouldn't other men listen to them? And why is that the woman's fault? Can't the men just change?

Even though what I was being told seemed wrong, I remember believing it, because it was what my teacher told me. Plus, it didn't really matter to me one way or another, because I was a boy. That meant if I wanted to be President, I could be. So why think about it too much?

But this morning, I woke up thinking of all those girls in that class with me who heard the same thing I heard that day, but who must have processed it in a much different way. I thought about how to them, it must have been like hearing "You're less than the boys. You don't have as much value. There are limits to what you can do and achieve." And they were hearing that from a grown-up, their teacher, and a woman herself, who wasn't being cruel or trying to put anyone down, it was just something she truly believed.

So today I woke up feeling really good, not just because of who was nominated, but because if nothing else, no matter how you feel about this political cycle, or the candidates, or any of that--at least there never needs to be another classroom full of boys being told that they don't have to listen to or respect women, and at least there never needs to be another classroom full of girls being told that they're always going to have to accept the fact that men won't listen to them.

It doesn't solve all the problems we have with gender inequality and unequal pay and sexism and all the other issues women face on a daily basis, but the first step to real change is listening to someone tell you things can't change and being able to recognize it as a lie.