After losing Kamala Harris, how long will it be before a woman becomes President of the United States?

Brenda Taylor hopes to see the first female president take office in her lifetime, but as she voted in Paterson on Tuesday, she was worried — rightly so — that 2024 wouldn’t be that year.

She believes that “old” attitudes towards women are partly to blame.

“Men didn’t really want women to win,” Taylor, 60, said. “They didn’t want it to be cultural, you know how a man is supposed to lead and a woman is supposed to step back. What is the culture like in our world?

Democrat Kamala Harris’s resounding defeat was driven by many factors, including concerns about immigration policy, the high cost of living and Harris’ ties to an unpopular administration. Some voters and advocates say long-standing gender bias and a tendency toward hypermasculinity are also hurting her chances against Republican Donald Trump.

Harris’ defeat highlights a larger picture: It shows that the United States continues to struggle with women’s representation in politics. In its nearly 250-year history, only one woman—Harris—has served as vice president. None of them were president. Globally 175 women in 87 other countries were heads of state.

The question arises: is America ready to elect a woman president?

Daisy Khan, a women’s rights advocate from Edgewater, is sceptical. While working abroad, she met with female heads of state in Kosovo and Bangladesh. She hopes for the same chance back home in the United States.

“Many Americans are not ready to allow a woman to lead or see her as commander-in-chief,” said Khan, executive director of the Women’s Islamic Initiative for Spirituality and Equality.

“Great progress has been made in the women’s movement. Women had to fight for this, for the right to equal treatment in the eyes of the state. But there is still an implicit, deep prejudice that a woman’s role is in the home and that women should not be leaders of the nation.”

“This is misogyny. This is history.”

During the campaign, Harris did not focus on the fact that she would become a historic candidate as a woman. But in the minds of many supporters it was a historical landmark.

Katherine Brienza, founder of the civic action group Ridgewood Jolt, and other volunteers traveled to Pennsylvania to campaign for Harris. She also supported Hillary Clinton when she ran for president eight years ago. She was “devastated” watching the result on Tuesday night.

“In 2016, everyone thought Hillary was the problem instead of recognizing it was deeper,” she said. “This is misogyny. This is history. Women are second class citizens. We fought for votes for a very long time. Blacks received the right to vote before women. It was always an uphill battle.”

Voters said Trump’s crude and demeaning remarks about women, accusations of sexual assault and stance on abortion were expected to turn off voters.

Meanwhile, Trump leaned towards male-oriented campaign this included appearances on “bro” podcasts and at Ultimate Fighting Championship events. Professional wrestler Hulk Hogan introduced it at the Republican National Convention. He addressed the view among some white men that they face discrimination in a more diverse society, despite holding most positions of power.

According to the national publication, about 53% of Harris’ supporters were women and 42% were men. CNN polls. Among Trump voters, 55% were men and 45% were women.

“There is a lot of fear and anxiety about the different roles of men and women, and those roles are blurred in some people’s minds,” Khan said. “As they blur, men assert themselves more forcefully. We see this on social networks. We see this with incels. We see this everywhere.

“They feel like they are losing their masculinity,” Khan added. “People vote for their fears.”

Historical gender gap

Why aren’t more women running for president? The established electoral system favored men and officeholders, making it difficult for women to rise through the ranks of politics. A wide gender gap exists in elected office in the United States, not just in the Oval Office.

A total of 17 states have never had a female senator, according to Pew Research Center. Only 60 women have ever served as U.S. senators. Eighteen states have never had a woman as governor. New Jersey has – Christine Todd Whitman, a former Republican, was the state’s 50th governor from 1994 to 2001.

Today, only 29% of the seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and a quarter of the seats in the U.S. Senate are held by women, according to Center for American Women in Politics at Rutgers University. A total of 12 states have female governors.

The power of the incumbent president is one of the most important factors, said Jean Sinzdak, deputy director of the center.

“Incumbents typically run for office and win more than 90 percent of the time,” she said. “There aren’t many opportunities for newcomers to the political process to break through.”

In New Jersey, Democrat Nellie Pou won a congressional seat on Tuesday, but only after the seat became vacant when 14-term Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr. died in August.

Women don’t run for office at the same rates as men, often because political structures are less welcoming to them, Sinzdak said. The Democratic Party has begun to change this by founding groups like Emily’s List and state-level political action committees that support women in politics.

Republican organizations lag far behind in this area, Sinzdak said.

“When it comes to women, there are a lot more of them on the Democratic side, and that’s been a trend for a long time,” she said. “We won’t get parity unless things change and the Republican Party does more to get women running.”

USA ranked 75th^thSingapore and Iraq have seen an increase in women’s participation in legislatures, according to the Inter-Parliamentary Union. Mexico just elected its first female president, Claudia Sheinbaum, an environmental scientist and former mayor of Mexico City, who was sworn in on October 1.

The American winner-take-all electoral system benefits men, Sinzdak said. Women do better in systems with multiple political parties, more candidates, and ranked-choice voting. Some countries also have quota systems for women in parliament.

“Most of the structures were designed by men,” Sinzdak said. “Men serve in office for a long time. It is very difficult to turn the ship. Dismantling some of the entrenched barriers takes a long time.”

“International efforts are needed. Progress is not just inevitable. This will happen for a reason. “The Ashes need to really recognize this and make it a priority and that starts with the leaders in government among today’s leaders.”

Brienza, 65, of Ridgewood, is looking forward to the day she sees a woman sworn in as president. Until then, she said, she will continue to fight for representation.

“The suffragettes failed and failed and kept going,” Brienza said. “The abolitionists failed, failed, and kept going. We’re not going to stop trying.”