In Thailand, Princess Ubolratana Rajakanya announced she will be running for prime minister in March. Her brother, King Maha Vajiralongkorn is forbidding it because it “is against norms”. Why shouldn’t she be allowed to run? Why are women always condemned when they want to participate or run in politics? As a society, we should be lifting these women up. More women need to be running in government because they understand women’s ideals and rights.

This past year, there has been a rise of women in politics and women participating in politics throughout the world. In order to obtain gender equality, this trend must continue.

During the mid-term elections in the United States, there was a historic record total of 112 women elected into Congress. Nevada is the first state to hold a female-majority house and currently has two female senators, Sens. Jacky Rosen and Catherine Cortez-Masto. Historically, more women are running for president.  Currently, there are five women running for president in 2020. This includes Sen. Kamala Harris, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard and now, Sen. Amy Klobuchar. 

These women are extremely inspiring and want to go against the ‘norm’ of white men representing our whole country. Even during the State of the Union address, Democrat women in Congress wore white to represent the suffragettes. Suffragettes represent the fight women have to go through to be taken seriously. The suffragettes protested against the government, got arrested, were sent to asylums and even starved themselves just to get the right to vote and be equal to men.

A study by the Inter-Parliament Union found that Rwanda, Cuba, Bolivia, Mexico and Grenada had the highest amount of women serving in government. As of Dec. 1, the United States ranks 75 in this study. Even the UN plans on closing the gender gap by 2030. If we truly are ‘the Leaders of the Free World’ why don’t we have more women in politics like these other nations?

Women are tired of not being heard by their government and are motivated to be properly represented. We saw this during the #MeToo movement and during the Women’s March. Women want their rapist to be jailed and convicted and want proper family-leave after they give birth and certainly not be paid differently than men.

Olúwatósìn Olaseinde, the founder of Money Africa tweeted, “I’m not even going to lie or hide. I want to see more representation of women in politics. We are rooting for them.”

Political scientist research found liberal women in government advocate more for education,  children and family, women’s health and welfare. It has also been proven that female legislators pass twice as many bills as a male legislator in one recent session of Congress. These women are clearly fit for the job.

The Editorial Board can be reached at mpurdue@sagebrush.unr.edu, and on Twitter @NevadaSagebrush.