“Undoing this double-bind requires chipping away at the societal stereotypes about gender, race and leadership that create it. Yet in doing so, women can face backlash because people perceive them as being too assertive, angry or, as Kamala Harris has been described, ‘too ambitious.’ It is a classic double-bind. To overcome these stereotypes, women often must prove they have what it takes to be strong leaders in ways men do not. One of the biggest obstacles preventing women from reaching senior positions are gendered stereotypes about leadership – namely, that women are not a good fit for leadership. “While women have made great strides in business, academia and government, they remain woefully underrepresented at the highest levels of leadership. Her election marks a watershed moment for women’s leadership – ushering in a new era of possibilities. “As the first woman and first woman of color elected to be vice president, Kamala Harris shattered several glass ceilings in one night. Senior Research Scholar, Stanford VMware Women’s Leadership Innovation Lab Michelle Mercer and Bruce Golden Family Professor in Women’s Leadership Director, Stanford VMware Women’s Leadership Innovation Lab Professor of Sociology, School of Humanities and Sciences looks like – mixed-race, modern, diverse – and in such polarized times as these, our task is to ensure that this promise of new affiliative communities exceeds the realm of representation and infuses policies and practices on the ground.” She draws on her own alternative family ecosystem and crafts a new blended interracial family that imagines new kinship arrangements.

Her presence augurs the possibility of new connections across racial formations, a horizon of Black-Brown solidarities, of African American and Asian American affiliations, and an affirmation of South Asian Americans within the larger group of Asian Americans. Multiple constituencies, including Black, South Asian, Asian American, have claimed her, and these gestures of claiming also remind us of the tenuous ways in which racialized minorities in the United States experience and assert national belonging. She was raised by a village of Black women, and it was the organizing by Black women that led her to victory. “Kamala Harris symbolizes alternative visions of race relations, both via her own background and in her interracial marriage to a white Jewish man.

“The historic appointment of Kamala Harris to the second-highest office in the nation is momentous and will inspire generations of young girls, and especially Black and Brown girls, to aspire to positions of leadership in the nation’s highest echelons of power. As Harris herself remarked in her victory speech: “While I may be the first woman in this office, I will not be the last, because every little girl watching tonight sees that this is a country of possibilities.”ĭirector, Center for South Asia Associate Professor, Theater and Performance Studies, School of Humanities and Sciences Director, Stanford Arts Institute She also made history as the Golden State’s first Black senator and then as the first Black and South Asian woman nominated vice president by a major political party.īut what challenges remain and what new opportunities will be open to her? Here, Stanford scholars Jisha Menon, Shelley Correll, Marianne Cooper, Estelle Freedman, Sarah Soule, Neil Malhotra and Adrian Daub discuss the symbolic milestone of Harris’ nomination and what impact she will have in inspiring future generations of young women to pursue public service and other leadership positions. A child of immigrants from Jamaica and India, Harris became the first woman and person of color to serve as the district attorney of San Francisco – firsts she achieved again later when she became the attorney general for California.

Indeed, Harris has an impressive track record of overcoming them. 20, she will be breaking one of the country’s highest concrete ceilings – a term often used to describe the insurmountable barriers that women of color in particular face. Kamala Harris has cemented herself in history by becoming America’s first woman, and the first Black and South Asian person, to be elected vice president.Īs she steps into the White House on Jan. Kamala Harris (D-CA) will step into the White House as vice president on Jan.

First female vice president