Hillary has been a Trailblazer For Women & Took Many Slings & Arrows for It
People forget that Hillary Clinton has spent her life being a trailblazer for women and she has taken a lot of slings and arrows for it. I remember when Hillary Clinton was First Lady, I was so happy that we finally had a First Lady role model that I could identify with. Although Barbara Bush is a lovely lady by every measure, I couldn’t really identify with her because I was getting my law degree and planning on being a working mother while working my way up through my law firm. Hillary’s life path was more similar to my future life plan and more aspirational to me. I looked up to her that she, as First Lady, was accomplished in her own right in the workforce and was an equal to her husband.
Hillary Was A Trailblazer As First Lady
If you remember, Hillary took a lot of attacks as First Lady for being a working, driven mother. I remember my own mother attacking her for not staying home. My mother more identified with Barbara Bush. It was very unsettling to my mother that we had a First Lady that was trying to be more of an equal to her husband instead of being in a supportive role to her husband.
There also was a lot of backlash that Hillary, as First lady, was put in charge of Healthcare Reform. No First Lady had ever taken on such a public substantive role and she took quite a lot of backlash for it. Having a first lady who was an equal in education and experience was a first and troubling to many who wanted her to stay in line with the previous model of a First Lady’s role. She broke the mold of First Lady and, at the time, it angered a lot of people.
Trailblazers Don’t Come Out Unscathed & I for One Have A Lot To Thank Hillary For
Back then, a lot of women and men felt threatened by Hillary. She represented the divide in life choices for women at the time. Women and men were much more divided over the choice. Stay at home moms chastised Hillary for not staying home and caring for her child and working moms chastised stay at home moms for not pursuing their own life goals. There was much more of a divide then and Hillary represented the divide to our nation. I do not feel that the divide is as great now.
Thanks, in part, to Hillary, I think now women do not feel as threatened by the choice to either work or stay home. She made the choice of being a working, ambitious mom acceptable and uncontroversial now. But, her choices caused a lot of controversy then and she still bears the scars in the minds of a lot of Americans. My mother decided she disliked Hillary 30 years when she was trailblazing a new model for women.
Thank you Hillary for being such a positive role model for me during those years that I was working to get my law degree and as a young, working mother. It was very hard for me to be a working mother because there was so much societal pressure to stay home and, of course, I wanted to be home with my kids. But, I also wanted to achieve and accomplish goals. Thank you Hillary for taking on the battle wounds to be a role model for young women to be educated, accomplished, equals with their husbands. And for making the choice to work or stay home noncontroversial today.