Idaho dad’s letter to his daughters: Being VP doesn’t seem as impossible as it once was
Dearest Liv and Isabel,
Tonight on my way home from work, I stopped and bought you your own set of pearls.
Today marks a new day in our country’s long history. For today was the last day we woke up in a country where a woman had never served as vice president. Kamala Harris is not just the first woman to hold that office but the first minority to do so, as well. The impact of her inauguration cannot be overstated in a country where our elected leaders have often looked much different than the American people.
Her victory at the polls shatters a glass ceiling that has existed since our country’s earliest days. We’ve come a long way since women weren’t allowed to vote or own property, but there’s still a long way to go until we reach true equality among our people, and not just in terms of gender. Your generation must continue this work.
Harris’ success isn’t hers alone. She has taken a step no other woman has before, but her path was paved by the generations of women who came before her. Learn these women’s names. Learn their stories. Be inspired by them. And find your own path. Do so confidently and when you do, give a hand to those behind you. Your success will not be yours alone.
Learn about women like Abagail Adams, Stacey Adams, Susan B. Anthony, Alice Paul, Elenore Roosevelt, Rosa Parks, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sacagawea, Sally Ride, Margaret Chase Smith, Harriet Tubman, Sandra Day O’Connor, Amelia Earhart, Serena Williams, and Sojourner Truth. Learn about women who weren’t afraid to dream big, who didn’t listen when people told them they couldn’t, and who risked everything to make the world a better place, often knowing the fruits of their labor could come well after their own lives.
Along the campaign trail and throughout her career, Vice President Harris has become known for wearing pearls and Converse sneakers. Women throughout the country wore them today to celebrate her achievement. Wear these pearls not to celebrate her accomplishments, but to celebrate your own achievements, to acknowledge that you too can become anything you want to become, to remember those who taught you that no dream is too big and to honor their sacrifices.
She, or another woman, may serve as our president or vice president for such a long period of time that you might forget, or just not know, that for the majority of our country’s history, women were not allowed to serve in our country’s government. One of you will finish your childhood with a woman one heartbeat away from the presidency. One of you will form your first memories of our government while a woman sits in the country’s second-highest office.
You don’t have to become the vice president, but you now live in a country where doing so doesn’t seem as impossible as it once was. For tonight, you’ll go to bed with a madam vice president.
All my love,
Dad