To Be US President You Need A Penis

With two days left until the U.S. presidential election, a video published by the Guardiansuggests few ground rules to be the U.S. president. The pivotal one? Having male genitalia.

“There are many things the American people would tolerate: you can be a liar, a fool, a peanut farmer, you can even be a womanizer,” pronounced the video by Damn Fine Media. “But it seems you cannot be a woman.”

In the last 223 years, not a single woman in the U.S. has gotten to this last stage of the presidential elections. Which is not to say they didn’t try: The long lists of nominees for being president of the United States includes forgotten names like Victoria Woodhull or Belva Ann Lockwood. More recently, former First Lady Hillary Clintongot far closer, only to then become Secretary of State.

Despite women’s efforts to reach the White House, the country does not seem to be ready to give this role to a woman. And in the global ranks, this does not look good. In fact, the U.S. is listed at the 90th place when it comes to the “World Classification of Women in Parliament,” right between Morocco and Venezuela.

“Unlike peer Western countries, like the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Israel, and Germany, or developing economies, such Brazil, Argentina, and India, we have no past and no foreseeable future with a woman as president or prime leader,” observes Michele Goodwin at the Chronicle.

Nonetheless, if you ask Americans today, they say they would endorse a female candidate.

Gallup, a research-based consulting company, has asked the question since 1937, and the percentage of citizens answering ‘yes’ has only grown since then. Only 33% answered positively in 1937, compared to 54% in 1958, 76% in 1978 and all the way up to 92% in 1999. This year, almost all respondents (96%) said they would vote for a woman to be the president of the United States.

But, as the Guardian’s video reminds us, this is easier said than done.

Click on the image to watch the video: