Publisher’s Note: What Does It Take to Elect a Woman President?

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With Kamala Harris on the eve of nomination as the DFL Presidential candidate, we start looking again at the question we faced in 2016 — will the bulk of the country support a woman candidate? We already know there is a large pro-choice movement around the country. Is that contingent strong enough, this time, to avoid authoritarian, anti-choice leadership? What does it take to get there? Who needs convincing?

I recently talked for more than an hour with a delegation of global women leaders — some involved in politics, some in media — hosted by Global Minnesota. A few of the questions I was asked were about the double standard women are held to, including Hillary Clinton in 2016. (It is a phenomenon we also discussed at the forum in June about Black women and mental health — the extra hoops you have to jump through when you do not fit the mold of traditional white male leadership.)

One woman indicated that business leaders in her country have different standards around crisis management. A woman might have a stable company that does not reach a crisis stage, which tends to be under-estimated. A man might lead the company in and out of a crisis, and be applauded for managing the crisis — not questioned about why the company faced the crisis in the first place.

I will be talking this week with Dr. Roya Akhavan, a Saint Cloud communication professor who is launching conversations around feminine leadership. She has written that we need to first reckon with ingrained values that have “glorified power over service and control over empathy throughout millennia.” We will be talking about the research she cites that shows a trend toward adjusting what it means to be a “real man,” and why we don’t simply need more women in leadership but:

“a paradigm shift that elevates the values and behaviors associated with the feminine aspects of humanity — namely, compassion, caring, cooperation, communal orientation, emotional intelligence, and moral courage … a complete transformation in how leadership is defined and enacted.”

Coincidentally, I was reading her words just as I finished watching the 2001 series “Band of Brothers” — where I noted that the strong leaders who got the most out of a World War 2 military troop were concerned about morale, giving people time off when the stress was too much, checking in with each other, finding supplies others needed.

I was in Grand Rapids this week to talk with women who have the pulse of their community; in two weeks, I will be in Marshall for a similar discussion. The goal is to bring you more of these statewide discussions and voices as we talk about what matters to us, and why. Our Ecolution series will continue to track the stories and solutions of powerful everyday leaders about local ecosystems and economies.

In our Minnesota Women’s Press universe, there is no question that women are amazing leaders; we need to understand more about the obstacles in our path, and what is required of all of us to change a few more hearts and minds.

We also continue to dance on the precipice of having not enough to meet operating expenses soon; every dollar we receive from Badass members and magazine donors is very important to our ability to continue sharing the unique stories of Minnesota’s feminist values and leaders.

— Mikki Morrissette, publisher and editor