Washington:
For the second time in eight years, a girl has gained the Democratic nomination for US president, solely to come back up brief in a marketing campaign the place gender was a central problem.
Like Hillary Clinton in 2016, Kamala Harris had a shot at turning into the primary lady to occupy the Oval Workplace however stumbled on the ultimate hurdle.
Whereas the charisma of their opponent — Donald Trump, in each instances — clearly performed a task in these historic defeats, many observers additionally noticed misogyny as an element.
Of their dueling campaigns, Harris and Trump laid out starkly totally different visions for ladies’s standing and rights.
Trump, who has confronted a number of accusations of sexual assault he denies, sought to broadcast a hypermasculine picture, showing alongside combined martial artists and providing reward for autocratic world leaders.
He and his marketing campaign surrogates additionally made a number of feedback that had been criticized as insulting or contemptuous of ladies.
He known as Harris “loopy” and “mentally disabled”, and claimed she could be “like a play toy” for different world leaders if elected.
His working mate, Ohio Senator J.D. Vance, doubled down on a quip he made in 2021 about “childless cat women” working the nation, saying “I’ve received nothing towards cats.”
Trump additionally introduced himself as a “protector” of ladies, saying he would defend them whether or not they “prefer it or not.”
Defender of ladies’s rights
Harris in contrast relied closely on feminine celebrities corresponding to Beyonce, Jennifer Lopez, Girl Gaga and Oprah Winfrey, betting that they’d assist her attain even conservative ladies voters.
Harris didn’t marketing campaign brazenly on the truth that she would have been the primary feminine president of the US.
However she made the protection of ladies’s rights, and abortion specifically, one of many cornerstones of her marketing campaign.
However this seems to not have gained over sufficient reasonably conservative ladies.
At a marketing campaign rally final month, former first woman Michelle Obama denounced the obvious double normal by which the 2 White Home candidates had been judged.
“We count on her to be clever and articulate, to have a transparent set of insurance policies, to by no means present an excessive amount of anger, to show time and time once more that she belongs,” she stated of Harris.
“However for Trump, we count on nothing in any respect. No understanding of coverage, no means to place collectively a coherent argument, no honesty, no decency, no morals.”
(Aside from the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV employees and is printed from a syndicated feed.)