On November 5, Democrat Kamala Harris, who is the first woman of color of both African-American and Indian origin to hold the post of vice president of the United States, failed to break stereotypes and become both the first woman and the first woman of color president of the country. Two weeks after the US election, commentators continue to analyze the reasons for Harris' failure. One of them is probably that during her election campaign, Harris did not emphasize precisely that if people support her, she will become the first female president of the United States, notes France Presse. However, she relied heavily on the support of influential women in US show business, such as Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga, Oprah Winfrey, Jennifer Lopez. Harris also championed the cause of preserving the rights and freedoms so far won for American women and was an ardent defender of federal abortion rights. Her opponent, the Republican Donald Trump, constantly attacked her with insulting qualifications, leading a campaign that could also be called misogynistic. Trump called Harris “crazy“ and “slow developing“ and warned that if she is elected president, she will become a “toy in the hands of the other leaders” around the world, notes France Press.
Could Trump's election victory be interpreted as a defeat for women in the US in general?
In a recent Reuters and Ipsos poll, 15 percent of respondents said they would not vote for a woman president of the United States. Although in the same poll, 55 percent of voters acknowledged that sexism is a big problem in the country.
In the US, women make up 51 percent of the population, according to the latest census. But this does not mean that women have equal opportunities with men in the country. In 2023, for every $1 earned by a working man in the United States, his working female compatriot received only 84 cents, Reuters recalls. For black women, the gap is even greater – for every dollar a white man earned, a black woman earned just 69 cents.
Women occupy only 11 percent of the positions of executive directors of the companies included in the “Fortune 500” of the 500 largest companies in the world, according to a survey by the Pew Institute. Among these 500 companies there are also many American ones. Women make up only 30 percent of the board of directors of companies in the “Fortune 500”, the study also states. In 2023, a study by the consulting company “McKinsey” showed that companies with more than 30 percent women in executive positions were more likely to exceed expectations for efficiency and productivity than companies with fewer women or no women at all, Reuters recalled.
But it cannot be said completely that in the elections on November 5, when voting was held not only for the president, but also for governors, senators and deputies in the lower house of Congress, women did not report certain successes, the Associated Press points out. With the election of the Republican Kelly Ayotte as the governor of the state of New Hampshire, now in the USA 13 states are governed by women, which is a record, the agency notes. The previous such record was set in 2022 when there were 12 female governors. In addition to New Hampshire, the states of Arkansas, Oregon, Arizona, Massachusetts, New York, Kansas, South Dakota, New Mexico, Maine, Michigan, Iowa, Alabama are now governed by women. Eighteen states have never had women governors before, AP adds.
Kelly Ayotte was born in 1968 in Nashua, New Hampshire. He is a lawyer by profession. He also has a master's degree in political science. Over the years, she has served as the deputy attorney general and attorney general of her home state and a senator in the New Hampshire Senate.
In the November 5 election, voters for the first time in the history of the Senate of Congress elected two African-American women as senators at the same time, AP notes. This is Lisa Blunt Rochester and Angela Alsobrooks. The two candidates are also the first African-American women elected as senators in the US Congress from the states from which they ran - Delaware and Maryland. Lisa Blunt Rochester was born in 1962 and has a BA in International Relations and an MA in Urban Planning and Public Policy. Angela Alsobrooks was born in 1971 and is a lawyer by training. The two newly elected senators are from the Democratic Party.
The first African-American woman elected as a senator in the history of the US Congress was the 1947-born Illinois lawyer Carol Moseley Brown. She won a seat in the Senate in 1992. She then served as US ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa, and in 2004 ran unsuccessfully for the US Democratic presidential nomination. The second African-American woman elected as a senator was Kamala Harris, but she cannot be defined as fully African-American because of her Indian roots. Harris, who, in addition to being the vice president, is also the vice president of the Senate of the Congress, but her term expires very soon.
During the November 5 election, Democrat Sarah McBride from the state of Delaware also made history, becoming the first transgender person elected to the House of Representatives, world agencies note. McBride was born in 1990 and graduated from American University in Washington. From a young age, she was interested in politics and was part of the election campaigns of candidates from the state of Delaware. When she was 21 years old, she revealed that she was transgender. Over the years, she has fought for the rights of the LGBT community, families with children, and women. Her efforts are also directed in the field of health care, housing policy and the right to abortion. These will be her priorities now that she is a member of the House of Representatives, according to the BBC, AFP, AP and Reuters.
Surprisingly, Donald Trump chose five women for leading positions in his future administration, world agencies and a number of American media note.
The first nomination that Trump made the very next day after winning the election was of a woman. He tapped Susie Wiles, his campaign manager, to be his White House chief of staff. She is the first woman to hold this prestigious position in the presidential administration. Trump said that “Wiles helped him achieve one of the greatest political victories in American history” and described her as "tough, smart, innovative and admired and respected by all”. He added that there is no doubt that Wiles will make the country proud and that through her work she will make America great again. Trump actually mentioned Wiles as early as his victory speech to supporters in Palm Beach on November 5. Then he called her "ice girl" while she was on stage next to him.
Wiles was born in May 1957 in New Jersey. She is one of three children of American football player and television host Pat Summerall. He graduated in English philology from the University of Maryland. After marrying Lanny Wiles, who is a consultant for the Republican Party, they moved to Florida. They have two children and grandchildren.
Wiles' career as a successful campaign strategist began a long time ago. She worked on Republican Ronald Reagan's presidential campaign in 1980. Early in her career, Wiles worked for more moderate representatives of the Republican Party. For example, she was an adviser to Jack Kemp, a staunch supporter of free trade, and to Tillie Fowler, who was considered a moderate on a number of issues, including gun control. Wiles later began working for more militant party figures, some of whom would become Trump allies. In 2010, Wiles joined Rick Scott's team, at the time he was just a businessman with little experience in politics but with big political ambitions. In seven months, she helped him get elected governor of the state of Florida. Scott is now a US Senator. Wiles also worked with Ron DeSantis, whom he helped win the governorship of Florida as well. Desantis describes her as the best in the business.
With Trump Wiles met in 2015 and she became the head of the Florida stage of his election campaign for the presidency in 2016. The result of this cooperation was that in the election then Trump defeated the Democrat Hillary Clinton in Florida. Wiles, 67, was also part of Trump's 2020 campaign team.
Wiles is said to be a member of Trump's inner circle and has now managed to lead one of his most disciplined election campaigns, AP notes. During the current campaign, Wiles has done what others have failed to do, which is to help Trump control his impulses. She did this not by admonishing or reprimanding him, but by being able to instill respect in him and show him that it would be better for him if he followed her advice, noted AP and Reuters.
Wiles will now have considerable power in the White House. Her position allows her to decide who has access to the president. She will manage the team in the White House, advise the president on political issues and monitor how things develop in relation to certain policies, the BBC, DPA and AP note. But this position is not without risks. During Trump's first term in the White House, four chiefs of his office lined up, including retired US Marine General John Kelly, who later became one of Trump's biggest critics, DPA recalls.
Wiles is relatively unknown to the general public and remains a mystery to Americans. She rarely gives interviews. Some describe her as creepy because of her icy aura, due in part to her hair color and stern expression. Others say she automatically commands respect with her restraint, insight and moderation.
President-elect Trump chose to entrust the posts of head of national intelligence, secretary of homeland security and permanent US representative to the United Nations to three loyal Republican women in his future team – Tulsi Gabbard, Christy Nome and Elise Stefanik.
Tulsi Gabbard was born in 1981 in Leloaloa on the island of Tutuila, which is part of the American Samoa archipelago. She is the fourth of five children born to Gerald Michael Gabbard, who is also a politician and was a senator in the Hawaii Senate. When Tulsi Gabbard was 2 years old, her family moved from American Samoa to Hawaii, where they had previously lived. Tulsi has Samoan and European roots on her father's side. Her mother was born in the state of Indiana but grew up in Michigan, gradually becoming interested in Hinduism and giving Hindu names to all her children. Tulsi Gabbard's name comes from the Sanskrit word “tulasi“ for “sacred basil”, and this plant, in turn, is associated with the Hindu goddess Tulasi.
Tulsi Gabbard has been interested in martial arts, yoga and surfing since she was little. In 2009, she graduated from Hawaii Pacific University with a bachelor's degree in business administration with a focus on international business affairs. Only 21 years old, she ventured into politics and was elected as a member of the Hawaii State Congress. Then she became the youngest local elected official in the history of this state, ABC recalls. However, she remained at this post for only two years and then turned to the military career. He joined the Hawaii National Guard, where he served from 2003 to 2020. During his 17 years of military service, Gabbard was deployed to Iraq from 2004 to 2005, where he served in a medical unit. She then went through an officer training program and was subsequently sent on a mission to Kuwait from 2008 to 2009. In 2015, she became a major. In 2020, she transferred to the American reservists and was sent on a mission to the Horn of Africa.
During the years between military overseas missions, Gabbard also served as a member of the Honolulu City Council, and in 2013 was elected from Hawaii to the US House of Representatives. He remains there until 2021, after announcing in 2019 that he will not run for re-election.
At the start of her political career, Gabbard was a Democrat. She even served as vice chair of the party's National Committee from 2013 to 2016. She then stepped down from that post to support Democrat Bernie Sanders' 2016 presidential bid.
During her tenure in the US Congress, Gabbard gained notoriety for her strong stance against Islamist terrorism in the Middle East, but also for her controversial views on the war in Syria. She often criticizes the administration of Barack Obama for not recognizing Islamic extremism as the main enemy of the United States, notes ABC. But at the same time, Gabbard expressed skepticism about some US military action against Syrian regime forces. In 2017, Gabbard traveled to Syria to meet with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Since then, she has refused to label Assad an "enemy of the United States," ABC noted. "An enemy of the United States is someone who threatens our safety and security," Gabbard said at the time. "There is no dispute that Bashar al-Assad is a brutal dictator. The fact that he used chemical weapons against his own people is not disputed," she added. "But I want to say that the reality we're facing in this country is that since the U.S. began waging a covert regime change war in Syria in 2011, the lives of the Syrian people have not improved," Gabbard said. , referring to US support under the Obama administration for rebel groups fighting to oust Assad.
All this gives rise to controversy surrounding Gabbard's personality. In 2020 she ran for president, and during her campaign to win the Democratic presidential nomination, she again opposed U.S. military intervention in other countries, but reaffirmed her firm stance on the fight against terrorism. After ending his election campaign in March 2020. she supports Joe Biden's presidential bid.
After completing her term as a popularly elected member of the House of Representatives, Gabbard took more conservative positions on abortion, LGBT rights, border security, and immigration issues. In October 2022 leaves the Democratic Party because of differences between it and the Democrats on a number of social and foreign policy issues. In August 2024 Gabbard formally endorsed Donald Trump for President of the United States during the Conference of the National Guard Association of the States of America. She joined the Republican Party in October 2024, world agencies and ABC remind.
Now Trump's decision to select Gabbard as the next director of national intelligence reinforces the belief that he prefers to choose loyalists instead of professionals in the relevant field for his future team, AP notes.
Trump justified his decision by saying that Gabbard is fulfilling her duties, showing the same “fearless spirit she has shown throughout her distinguished military and political career”. But it is a fact that she is perceived as an outsider for the position for which she is nominated. She will succeed Avril Haynes, who took over in 2021. after years of working in the intelligence and national security system, AP notes. As director of national intelligence, Gabbard will be in charge of 18 intelligence agencies, Reuters recalled, also noting that she has little direct experience in US intelligence affairs.
Lately, Gabbard has caused controversy with his positions, according to which Russian President Vladimir Putin had grounds to invade Ukraine, France Press recalls. Shortly after the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Gabbard wrote on “Twitter” (today “X“) that “this war and this suffering could have been avoided if the Biden administration and NATO had simply acknowledged Russia's legitimate concerns about Ukraine joining the alliance”.
It should not be forgotten that in 2020 the same Gabbard criticized her current employer Trump for ordering a drone strike in Baghdad that killed Iranian General Qassem Soleimani, a leading figure in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Gabbard then declared that it was “an illegal and unconstitutional act of war”, notes France Press.
Trump's nominee for Homeland Security Secretary Christy Nome is a close ally of his, but like the case of Tulsi Gabbard, she also has little experience in the field in which she will work, Reuters notes.
Noum was born in 1971. in Watertown, South Dakota in a farming family that has Norwegian roots. He graduated in political science from the University of South Dakota. Then he took care of the family farm. As a member of the Republican Party, she was elected to the House of Representatives, first to the regional parliament of South Dakota, and then to the US Congress. From 2019 is the governor of South Dakota. In that post, Noum gained national notoriety during the coronavirus pandemic when she refused to require her state to wear masks everywhere.
Now heading the Department of Homeland Security, which employs more than 260,000 people, she will be responsible for border security, countering terrorist threats and cybersecurity. Even before she was nominated for the post, Noum made several visits to the US-Mexico border, which she called last January a “war zone” because of the influx of illegal migrants from there, notes Reuters. She also sent dozens of South Dakota National Guard members to help the Republican-governed state of Texas in its fight against illegal immigration.
In April of this year, when Noam's name began to be mentioned as a possible candidate for Trump's vice presidency, she shared that she shot her dog because it was out of control. This revelation sparked a national controversy, as dogs are preferred pets in the US, according to AFP.
Trump's nominee for US permanent representative to the UN, Elise Stefanik, was born in 1984. in Albany, New York. She says her father is of Czech descent and her mother is of Italian descent. He graduated from Harvard University with a degree in public administration. She was also the vice-president of the Harvard Institute of Politics.
Stefanik was elected to the House of Representatives in 2014, when she was only 30 years old. At that time, she was the youngest woman elected to Congress, AP recalls. Originally a moderate Republican. But gradually he began to support Trump. During the two impeachment proceedings against him, she fiercely defended him in Congress. Then also as Trump refuses to recognize Biden's victory in the 2020 election
In 2021, she was elected chair of the College of Republican People's Electors in the House of Representatives of Congress. She then replaces Liz Cheney, who was ousted for her criticism of Trump and his unsubstantiated claims that Democrats stole his 2020 election victory.
In December 2023, Stefanik, who is an ardent supporter of Israel, questioned in the House of Representatives three chancellors of universities where there had been pro-Palestinian protests. The hearing took place in a rather tense atmosphere because of the tone set by Stefanik. Then two of the chancellors resigned, including Claudine Gay, who heads Harvard University, France Press and the Associated Press recall.
Stefanik is also a member of the House Armed Services Committee and the House Oversight Committee on National Intelligence. Since the beginning of the war between Israel and “Hamas” in Gaza, she accused the UN and international organizations of anti-Semitism for their criticism of Israel's bombing of the Palestinian enclave. She is also calling for a complete reassessment of US funding of the UN and a freeze on US support for the UN agency helping Palestinian refugees. When Trump announced that he was selecting Stefanik for the post, Israel's permanent representative to the UN, Danny Danon, congratulated her and said that "her resolute moral clarity is needed more than ever at a time when hatred and lies fill the halls of the UN.< /p>
But Stefanik has little experience in foreign policy and international organizations, AP notes. Before being elected to Congress, she served on the domestic policy council in the White House under George W. Bush. She was an employee of his chief of staff. When Trump announced that he was nominating her to be the US permanent representative to the UN, he described her as “America's fighter” and said she was “incredibly strong, tenacious and intelligent”. At one point in Trump's campaign, there was even talk that Stefanik might be his choice as his running mate.
In American political life, the post of US Permanent Representative to the UN is a springboard to political development. For example, Madeleine Albart later became secretary of state in the Bill Clinton administration, Susan Rice later became national security adviser in the Barack Obama administration, and Nikki Haley, who held the position during Trump's first term, then ran against him for the presidential nomination. of the Republican Party, recalls France Press.
During his campaign, Trump did not make clear his intentions regarding the United Nations, but he has generally favored a less interventionist foreign policy. He has more than once questioned the usefulness of international alliances, including NATO. He also threatened allies with higher tariffs and less American protection if they did not increase their defense spending. Now under Trump, the US is expected to reduce its contribution to the United Nations and its commitment to the actions of the world organization. Such a retreat would pave the way for greater Chinese influence in global diplomacy, Reuters noted. Now on the agenda is the question of whether, under Trump, the US will decide to withdraw from leading UN structures, such as the World Health Organization, or from leading agreements, such as the Paris Climate Agreement, AP adds.
Some time ago, Trump talked about the possibility of his daughter Ivanka being the permanent representative of the United States at the United Nations, because she was “incredible and no one could match her”, world agencies also recall.
Ahead of the weekend, Trump nominated Caroline Levitt to be White House press secretary. She is only 27 years old and will be the youngest speaker in the history of the presidency, notes the BBC. Levitt was born in 1997 in Atkinson, New Hampshire. He studied communications and political science at the College of “St. Anselm“ in his home state. While she was still a college student, she took part in an internship at Fox News TV. and in the White House during Trump's first term as president. In 2020, she told “Politico” that these two internships gave her the opportunity to get an idea of what is really happening in the world of media, journalism and press services in various departments. After graduating from college, Levitt started a real job in the White House press office, where he helped write Trump's speeches and then was an assistant speechwriter. After that, he started working as a communications director in Elise Stefanik's team. In 2022, he ran for a seat in the House of Representatives in Congress, but unsuccessfully, the BBC recalls.
Levitt's priorities as a Republican politician are largely similar to those of Trump – cut taxes, promote growth, pro-free market policies, strong law enforcement, strengthen borders, zero tolerance for illegal immigration, complete the US-Mexico border wall, notes the BBC.
In announcing Levitt's nomination as White House spokesperson, Trump called the young woman “smart, tenacious and has proven to be a highly effective communications expert”. He expressed confidence that she would be "excellent as a spokesperson and help the White House's messages reach the American people as the new administration makes America great again,”, the BBC reported.
To what extent the nominees for key positions in the Trump administration, Republicans Susie Wiles, Tulsi Gabbard, Christy Nome, Elise Stefanik and Caroline Levitt, will make women in the United States feel worthy of being represented in the country's governance, only time will tell. And during that time, Democrats are expected to strengthen the strategy that has led to such Democratic breakthroughs as Lisa Blunt Rochester, Sarah McBride and Angela Alsobrooks.