Our nation’s election results represent the norms and desires of our country. Some will say that Vice President Kamala Harris was not elected because she did not address concerns with our economy, health care, immigration, or foreign policy. Others would say that she did not do enough to unify our country. And others may say that her campaign focused too much on pro-choice.  Or, did this election show us that, as a country, we are not ready for a woman to lead our nation? My mother used to say, “If you are marked with the black ink, you have to work ten times harder.” My mother used to say, “Some people believe that women are not fiscally responsible to make the best financial decisions in an organization, corporation, or the nation.”  My mother used to say, “People think women are incapable of being in leadership roles.”   On Tuesday, November 5, we saw these beliefs in action. Since I was 5 years old, every Sunday at 3 p.m. my family would sit down together for dinner. Sunday dinners were meant for dialogue and discussion about different social issues and events that were happening in our community. The conversations we had around the dinner table allowed me to understand that people are all uniquely different and no group, such as men or women, is made up of people who are all the same. They do not live up to the stereotypes that society and the media continue to perpetuate. I was always around strong, positive, intelligent women who encouraged and motivated me to be the man I am today.  But we all grow up in different environments and experience various traumas and life lessons that lead us to who we are today. These experiences build our perspectives and develop the personal lens through which we see the world. Men are not a monolithic group and they have a variety of viewpoints about women and what they are capable of achieving. In my community, growing up, I heard many comments from people and in the media referring to women as bitchy, slutty, controlling, emotional, indecisive, erratic, hormonal, scatter-brained, and weak.  Kevin L. Booker, Jr. I realized at a young age that the negative perceptions of women were detrimental to our society, and I made it my mission to ensure that all women who are part of my life will be given fair opportunities.  So, I ask again, was our country ready for a female president?   The 2024 presidential election brought biases and stereotypes of women to the forefront.  Former President Donald Trump ran his campaign with a focus on law and order response to policy changes. His manner of addressing issues targeted men. Many who voted for him noted that his ability to say what he was thinking unabashedly demonstrated strength in his potential to lead the country. People valued the level of machismo that he offered and his directness.  As a presidential candidate, Vice President Kamala Harris faced prejudice not only because of her gender but because of her race as Black and Asian-American. The intersectionality of being a woman and a person of color often increases the negative stereotypes or biases they experience, and this was on full display during this election season. The presidential election gave us a front-row seat to seeing gender bias play out in our country. In the 2020 presidential election, according to exit polls, 53% of men voted for Trump and 45% voted for Biden.  In 2024, 55% of men voted for Trump and 42% voted for Harris which was a decrease in support by 3% from Biden to Harris. Additionally, in 2020, according to exit polls, 42% of women voted for Trump and 57% of women voted for Biden.  In 2024, Trump gained more female voters with 45% and Harris had 53% of their vote, a decrease in support by 4% from Biden to Harris.  When asked in an exit poll conducted by AP VoteCast, which candidate was a strong leader, in 2024 45% said Harris was a strong leader and 55% said Trump as a strong leader.  In 2020, Biden and Trump were nearly equal at around 50%.  Overall, comparing the election results in the 2024 election, former President Trump received 50.5% of the votes and Vice President Harris received 47.6%. In 2020, President Joe Biden received 51.3% of the vote while Former President Trump received 46.8% of the vote.  Biden won by a margin of 4.5% in 2020 and Harris lost by a margin of 2.9% in 2024  Vice President Harris won the state of Connecticut by a margin of 14.5%. However, in the 2020 election, President Biden won by a 20.1% margin against Former President Trump. So, the question stands, is our country – where gender equality is a relatively new concept – ready for a female president?  It has only been a little over a century since some women were given the right to vote.  On August 18, 1920, 104 years ago, the 19th Amendment was enacted, declaring “the right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex,” giving white women the right to vote. However, women of color were not freely allowed to vote until the passing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, only 59 years ago.  The Voting Rights Act of 1965 enforced the 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which stated that the right to vote would not be denied because of one’s race. Only 51 years ago, in 1973, the 9to5 Movement was established by clerical workers to demand equality in the workplace and to put an end to the harassment and discrimination they faced. This movement has addressed and fought against pay disparities and harassment in the workplace and advocated for paid family leave, affordable housing, quality childcare, and living wages. In 1973, women earned 56.6 cents for every dollar a man earned. Still, to this day, there are significant gender gaps. Women in 2024 earn 84 cents to every dollar a man earns. This number has not significantly changed in the last 20 years  Women were not allowed to apply for a credit card until 1974.  Women were unable to report cases of sexual harassment in the workplace until 1977, and sexual harassment was not defined in literature until 1980. Women also could not participate in the Boston Marathon until 1972. And it wasn’t until 1978 that women couldn’t be fired because they were pregnant.  Leadership roles have changed throughout the last 30 years, but women are still underrepresented in top leadership positions in companies.  In Fortune 500 companies, there are only 52 women CEOs in 2024, representing 10.4% of the total number of CEOs. We are divided on many issues in our nation, but most people want the country to move forward in a positive way. We have to model civil discourse for the next generation and teach them how to positively engage with others who have differing viewpoints from them. We have to create programs that will educate people on the voting process. We have to ensure that our young men and women see each other as equals at the table and this starts in our homes, in our schools, and our communities by creating events that will encourage us to see men and women as equals.  Lastly, we cannot make any more excuses as to why we are not getting involved in our town, city, or state-level issues.  Let’s work together as a unified front and not allow our emotions to get the best of us. We have to figure out how to work together with all of our differences to move our country in a positive direction. Let’s learn from our past so, as United States Senator Cory Booker says, we can ensure that “everyone will have a seat at the table and not be on the menu.” Kevin L. Booker Jr. is a member of the Connecticut Mirror’s Community Editorial Board.