Can we see a female president in America?

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Can we see a female president in America?

Published: 29 Jul. 2024, 19:47

KIM SEUNG-JUNG
The author is a professor of archaeology at the University of Toronto.

As U.S. President Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race less than four months before the November election, he endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic candidate for the election. Harris is expected to face former President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. Trump will run against another female Democratic candidate after former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ran for president in 2016.

There have been a number of female presidential candidates in the history of the United States, including Victoria Woodhull in 1872. But Mrs. Clinton was the first candidate of a major party with a shot at presidency, and Harris will be the second. It is ironic that Trump is running against another female candidate as his public attitude toward women is controversial.

Historically, women had been alienated from the political theater. The ancient Greek and Roman periods were no exception. But in ancient Rome, women’s rights, including property ownership, improved in general compared to Greece. It is widely known that empresses exercised a considerable political influence despite not having official positions. Livia Drusilla — the wife of emperor Augustus — was the first to be called “Augusta.” She oversaw state affairs in the absence of her husband in addition to handling the family’s businesses and real estate. She also made Tiberius — her son from her former husband — an emperor.

In addition to Livia, there are many examples of royal women swaying influence, such as the cases of Julia Agrippina, the wife of Emperor Claudius, and Julia Domna, the wife of Septimius Severus.

Eumachia was a commoner, not an aristocrat, but became famous in Pompei as a business entrepreneur. She built a large public structure with her name engraved at the center of the city. It is said that her supporters erected her sculpture inside the structure. As there has never been a female president in the United States, all eyes are on the choice of voters in the upcoming election on Nov. 5.