Kamala Harris is a hero for all 50-something women (and she makes me want to do better!)

by Claire Isaac

She has just become the Vice President-elect of the USA, and Kamala Harris is breaking down barriers and stereotypes with every single breath she takes right now.

What a time to be a woman watching this unfold.

She’s the first woman, the first woman of colour and the first woman of South Asian descent to be able to use the Veep’s car space.

And this isn’t the only time she has been first in her career.

She was the first black woman to serve as San Francisco's District Attorney; the first to serve as California's attorney-general; and the first American of South Asian descent elected to the US Senate.

She’s done some remarkable things in her career — working as a prosecutor, backing the legalisation of marijuana, officiating San Francisco's first same-sex wedding…

But the first that I am celebrating as a personal victory is this: she’s the first 55-year-old woman to get the job.

And that means a lot.

She’s proving that women over 50 are more than valid, more than necessary and more than capable of breaking through not only the glass ceiling but the impenetrable inner workings of the American political system.

She’s giving girls hope at a time when women have lost true heroes like Ruth Bader Ginsberg and have missed having that other inspirational 50-something Michelle Obama in the White House.

Now young women everywhere have a new idea about what middle age can look like — and there isn’t a pair of sensible slacks, a midlife bob or a backseat-to-the-husband in sight.

Middle age looks fucking amazing on her.

Indeed, along with Dr Jill Biden — fascinating, inspiring and impressive in her own right — Kamala will make the White House a place where young women in the US could see themselves one day, and America a place where women, women of colour, women of South Asian descent and women of midlife can feel seen, important and valuable.

“While I may be the first woman in this office, I will not be the last,” she told a cheering audience in Wilmington, Delaware this afternoon. “Because every little girl watching tonight sees that this is a country of possibilities.”

And every woman between 45 and 60, too.

Goodness, she makes me want to do something good with my life.

She’s going to change the lives of a lot of America’s young women, and she’s also going to change the way that the world’s middle-aged women are seen and see themselves.

As a woman of a similar vintage, I’m going to move forward with a new motto: What would Kamala do?

Bring on January 2021!