I haven’t written a “Women Who Inspire Me” post in ages; and I’m not sure that I’ve ever actually covered a politician. But today’s the day for both of those things!
Elizabeth Warren
Let me first get it out of the way; I do quite closely support Warren’s politics. Our similarly aligned belief system definitely adds to the plethora of things that I do find inspirational about her. However, I’d think she was an incredible woman even if we had more disparate views.
Warren might not have the youthful charisma of other 2020 Democratic candidates such as Pete Buttigieg or Beto O’Rourke, but what she does have is experience.
Warren worked her way up in life; she came from a family in Oklahoma that struggled to pay it’s bills every month. She got a summer job at 13 and hasn’t stopped working since. Before she entered politics, she worked as a lawyer.
In the mid-2000s, as a law professor, she sounded the alarm about proposed changes to bankruptcy rules, an issue on which there was almost no organised opposition to the interests of banks and credit card companies. That methodology is central to her political platform and her presidential platform.
Personally, I think it’s extremely important that the next person who sits in the White House is a woman. Not just to break one of those last glass ceilings for women, but to thoroughly repudiate the current president. To turn the tide on toxic masculinity in America, what could be more fitting?
Warren believes in the Green New Deal, has a green manufacturing plan, and a plan to stop drilling on public lands. She is a co-sponsor of Medicare for All. She also has a student loan plan that would cancel debt for more than 75% of Americans. She also has a plan to ban private prisons, an affordable housing plan, a maternal mortality plan, a plan to offer debt relief to Puerto Rico, a universal child care plan.
What I really admire about Warren is that whilst some of her political beliefs when she announced them have been seemingly unpopular to more conservative Democrats, her stances seem rooted in the understanding of systemic racial and economic injustice in America and the corruption that feeds it.
Others have said it before me. If you don’t have a seat at the table, you’re probably on the menu. And so it is important that we have women in the United States Senate – strong women, women who are there to help advance an agenda that is important to women.
Elizabeth Warren
Is there any woman at the moment that you particularly admire?
If you enjoyed this post, you might also like:
Women Who Inspire Me #1: Joan Didion
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Women Who Inspire Me #2: Sylvia Plath
Feminist Reads for Every Age
Women Who Inspire Me #3: Georgia O’Keeffe
Women Who Inspire Me #4: Ruth Bader Ginsburg
My Feminism Journey
Women Who Inspire me #5: Audre Lorde
Women Who Inspire Me #6 Roxane Gay
Women Who Inspire Me #7 My mom
Women Who Inspire Me #8: Frida Kahlo
Women Who Inspire Me #9: Lindy West
Women Who Inspire Me #10: Margaret Charles Smith
Women Who Inspire Me #11: My Grandmother
Women Who Inspire Me #12: Ibu Robin Lim
Women Who Inspire Me #13: Iris Apfel
Women Who Inspire Me #14: My Best Friend
Women Who Inspire Me #15: Audrey Hepburn
