Story and Pictures by E.C. McRoy
A survey of several CNM students suggest that the community supports the idea of a woman becoming president, though whether or not an election will put a woman in office is uncertain.
CNM freshman student Kyra Martinez said, “a lot of women can lead a country.”
Martinez said that it takes a specific type of person to run a country, a person like Bernie Sanders as opposed to Hillary Clinton who took the popular vote last election.
Martinez said that a woman’s ability to run a country comes from her ability to “stop thinking about a business and start thinking about the welfare of its people” stating that if she doesn’t “you can’t run jackshit.”
A president shouldn’t think it’s all about money, according to Martinez, and that a woman cannot expect to win if she addresses the presidency like a business.
Martinez said on Clinton, “Yes, a woman can run a country, but not when you’re a social justice person who doesn’t have the right idea on how to run a country.”
Women may be more inclined to run for Congress, rather than the presidency, which may impact why a woman is not president, says Martinez, citing Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
“So yeah I think a woman can run a country but you gotta make sure she’s not a socialist idiot,” said Martinez.
Work-study student Gabriel Providenti said that people can support a socialism that would improve lives and that the US should consider taking cues from other countries that have women running them.
Providenti said that our country “is kind of stuck in the old ways of thinking. We have too many old white men running it.”
Evelyn Nevarez Munoz, a secondary education major, said that that there is a “slight chance” that a woman could win the presidency, however, there is a prevailing idea that men are stronger leaders than women.
“But I think we’re growing as a society, definitely,” she added, saying that it depends on hard work and determination to represent the country that is the real deciding factor.
When asked if Munoz would vote for a woman even if she thought a woman could not win, she said, “Yes, I would. Definitely. Yeah, there’s no difference between what a man and a woman can do. Their goals and ideas are what matter for the country at the end of the day.”
Although Munoz said that it seemed that women would be more supportive of a woman president, she admitted, “everyone has different thoughts regardless of what gender they are.”
Discrimination is a likely culprit of a woman staying out of office and men may not be as aware of that discrimination as women, said Munoz.
Munoz went on to say that men are less likely to understand discrimination against women or minimalize it because “they don’t experience it. They’re very ignorant towards it.”
Integrated studies major Pablo said that people should be open to new ideas, not just falling into the familiar, old ways.
Duenas said that generational differences could impact an election, because of differing beliefs, including gender stereotypes.
“I feel like now is a good time [for women to strive for powerful positions] … generations have changed,” said Duenas.
Duenas said that his long-time girlfriend is involved in women’s rights activism and that has encouraged him to “strongly believe that any woman if they put their mind to it can do anything a man can.”
Duenas continued by saying that a woman could win if everyone were to vote.
“There’s a lot more of women politicians, I feel like gender shouldn’t be holding someone back from what they want to pursue,” said Duenas.
