Women urged to seek higher office

The United States is one of the few large Western countries that has never had a female president.

The closest the country has come to having a woman in the executive office is Vice-President Kamala Harris. While Harris lost the presidential election on Monday to President-elect Donald Trump, her campaign still advanced women in politics, say advocates, who added that much more is left to be done.

The number of women who have become their party's presidential nominees in the US has been minuscule aside from Harris and Democrat Hillary Clinton in 2016.

The other two female vice-presidential candidates were Republican Sarah Palin in 2008 with John McCain, and Democrat Geraldine Ferraro with former vice-president Walter Mondale in 1984.

Many other women, dating back to Victoria Claflin Woodhull in 1872, have unsuccessfully run for president in the US.

"Vice-President Harris' run for office highlights that women can serve at all levels of government and serve well," Deidre Malone, the president of the National Women's Political Caucus, told China Daily.

Democrats Lisa Blunt Rochester from Delaware and Angela Alsobrooks from Maryland, both black women, will serve together in the US Senate for the first time in history.

"The numbers are improving, but women are not close to being equally represented in all levels of government," Malone said.

The global picture for women leaders is quite different. In October, Mexico elected its first female leader, President Claudia Sheinbaum.

The United Kingdom has had three female prime ministers. In November, the Conservative Party nominated its first black, female leader Kemi Badenoch.

Worldwide, the number of female leaders is growing, but there still are far fewer of them than men. At least 30 women have served as heads of state, in 28 countries since September 2022, according to the United Nations women division. Overall, Europe has had more female leaders than any other region.

Kathleen Dolan, distinguished professor and chair of the Department of Political Science at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, told China Daily that "voters have become more accustomed to seeing women candidates".

Harris, of black and Asian Indian descent, was district attorney of San Francisco in 2004, elected attorney general of California in 2010, and sworn into the US Senate in 2017.

"Some of the roadblocks holding women back from running for office include that they do not see themselves in elected office," she said. "More are showing interest in running because they see other women stepping up and serving."