Sarah King: Representation matters

As I cried watching Kamala Harris take her oath of office, many things were rolling through my mind. Mostly what I was thinking was, “How on Earth did it take this long for America to trust a woman enough to put her in a position of power?”

Have we not run households and businesses for decades and decades? What is it about women that so many people distrust our ability to lead? I am shocked that so few of my friends know that it wasn’t until the 1960s that women could open a bank account and it wasn’t until the 1970s for we could have our own credit card! The fact that is so unbelievable means we have made some great strides, but we still have far to go.

It is so important to have a woman in a position of power to inspire little girls to dream big. I remember as a little kid being so confused by some of the things I saw in the world. I never saw a woman leading prayer at church. My mom always had to talk to a man when she asked to speak to a manager. Why did I always have to write “he” when I didn’t know the identity of the person I was writing about? I know it seems small, but I wondered why all the same.

Having a female vice president offers the chance for my son to learn an unspoken lesson. It will show him that women are not less than. That a woman can fight for and win the same positions he’s hoping to attain. That competing against a woman doesn’t mean not trying as hard. It probably means trying harder.

It makes my heart happy to see that the advertising community is starting to get this through their thick skulls as well. While we are FAR from getting it completely correct, there have been great wins here too. We are now seeing people with special needs in national advertising campaigns. Dove Soap carried the torch early on, showing that their products work on women and men of all sizes. We are finally seeing more people of color on our TV and in our movie theaters. And the LGBTQ+ community couples are showing up in all sorts of shows and ad campaigns.

When people see someone who looks like them being celebrated and proudly exhibited for the entire world to see it, there is a sense of pride and of normalcy that comes along with it. It shows those whose communities may not be too diverse the broader beauty in the world. It normalizes all the diversity our beautiful human race has to offer. I am excited to see these changes in representation taking place—in the government as well as in entertainment and marketing. The lesson I hope my son takes away from seeing all this change is that though we are different, we are all so much the same. ​