Kamala Harris smashes glass ceiling for girls everywhere – opinion

Published: NOVEMBER 18, 2020 21:06

VICE PRESIDENT-ELECT Kamala Harris speaks after Joe Biden is named winner of the 2020 US presidential election, in Wilmington, Delaware, on November 7. (photo credit: JIM BOURG / REUTERS) — VICE PRESIDENT-ELECT Kamala Harris speaks after Joe Biden is named winner of the 2020 US presidential election, in Wilmington, Delaware, on November 7.

(photo credit: JIM BOURG / REUTERS)

The religious world has seen changes thanks to the brave men and women who have dared to break existing conventions and move toward an egalitarian reality.

The recent election of Kamala Harris as the first female vice president of the United States has women around the world celebrating. Captions such as “Careful! There’s glass all over the floor” could be spotted across social media, referring to the glass ceiling Kamala smashed for so many girls and women across the country and the world.

We are also marking 25 years since Alice Miller stood in front of the Israeli Supreme Court demanding her rightful place in the male-only elite pilot course. While Miller did not complete the course, she left enough cracks in the glass ceiling. Now many women are completing the course and serving as pilots here in Israel.

American activist Mariana Wright Edelman said brilliantly, “You can’t be what you can’t see.” We can now say that little girls can grow up with realistic hopes of becoming the president of the United States.

There’s a phenomenal quote from educator, Janusz Korczak: “The one who cares for days, sows wheat. The one who cares for years, plants trees. The one who cares for generations, educates people.” The same is true of social change. If the intention is to bring about historical change, bold actions are needed.

The religious world has seen changes thanks to the brave men and women who have dared to break existing conventions and move toward an egalitarian reality.

In early November, the Israeli Supreme Court held one of the most important hearings in the past year. It focused on the right of Women of the Wall, the Reform and Conservative movement, and other liberal Jews to pray in a pluralistic fashion at the Western Wall. The hearing, in which the court demanded a solution for egalitarian prayer at the Wall, lasted more than four hours.

I sat behind Anat Hoffman and I was overwhelmed with excitement. I thought, just two meters away from me was a woman who has spent her adulthood creating change for generations. Anat educates people, not in the classroom, but with her presence, constantly performing social actions and fighting for social justice. In 1967, the Israeli paratroopers liberated the Western Wall from the Jordanians so that Jews could return to the holy site after 2,000 years. Anat is a warrior too – leading a modern liberation of the Kotel – for women and all streams of Judaism.

Only 100 years ago did women in the United States receive the right to vote. It took another century for a woman to be elected vice president. Yet, it is not a faraway dream that a woman will become president.

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In Israel, we’ve already elected a female prime minister, and women are involved in our elite pilot training course. But we are not there yet. Women’s presence in the public sphere in Israel is rare and diminishing each day, and the reason for it is evident. As long as the voices of women are silenced at the Western Wall – a state-owned site that is recognized as the principal Jewish symbol – this will give license to the decision-making authorities to keep pushing women out of public space.

Women throughout history have made cracks and holes in the glass ceiling. We need to keep hammering away at it until it has disappeared. My dream is that one day my daughter will stand as an adult under a clean and clear sky, as if it were completely ordinary.

The writer is executive director of Women of the Wall.