At the local Women's March on Saturday, one of the speakers urged women to consider becoming candidates themselves. "If women aren't at the table, they aren't being heard," she said, as if being a woman automatically wired you to address issues of human rights, climate change and immigration in universally agreeable ways. The Women's March wasn't because there is a male in the White House, and I don't support advocating for women just because they are women. It becomes one more variable to polarize us.
Currently, I am represented by females in the Senate and state legislature. I did not vote for either one as they have vastly different policy views than I do. In contrast, I supported male candidates who shared my values though not my chromosome makeup.
No one person can "be" all that they need to consider in their actions. Males don''t automatically ignore females; Muslims don't inherently ignore Christians; Latinos can't disregard African Americans; the middle class can't forget the poor and so on. Those in leadership roles need to develop empathy for all their constituents and cultivate skills such as inclusion, listening, questioning and seeing.
Yes, it would be nice if more CEOs, politicians and leaders were women. But I'll take more who think like I do any day, regardless of how they look.
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