How the 2024 Election Affected Me As A Younger Girl

The second the election outcomes flashed throughout the display, I used to be in disbelief. I had adopted Kamala Harris’ marketing campaign with hope and pleasure, seeing her journey as a promise that somebody like me — a younger lady with Indian roots — may attain the very best ranges of energy. Kamala was a pacesetter who understood the combat for gender and racial equality as a result of she had lived it. Earlier than Election Day, I had imagined a future the place women wouldn’t have to fret about their basic rights being threatened. However when Donald Trump was declared the winner, I felt a crushing sense of dread: not simply from disappointment, however from worry of what would observe.  

Sadly, it looks as if these damaging adjustments are already beginning to occur. When Trump was elected in 2016, folks responded by organizing the Ladies’s March and launching the #GrabYourWallet boycott. However this time, it feels completely different. Main US companies are already aligning with Trump even earlier than Inauguration Day. Meta, the corporate behind Fb and Instagram, lately introduced it might cease utilizing third-party fact-checkers — basically backing up Trump’s claims of censorship whereas ignoring the rising downside of misinformation. And corporations like Walmart, Ford, and McDonald’s are pulling the plug on their Variety, Fairness, and Inclusion (DEI) packages, which seems like a serious setback to the progress made up to now few a long time towards constructing a extra inclusive society.

As an officer of my college’s Feminist Membership, one among my favourite actions is to prepare and facilitate discussions on subjects like gender equality and ladies’s rights. Because the election, our discussions have shifted — they aren’t simply theoretical anymore. We speak about the actual implications of attending faculty in purple states which have abortion bans and the risks of Venture 2025, which requires banning the abortion tablet mifepristone, limiting contraception, and ending protections in opposition to office discrimination and harassment. We fear about our associates within the LGBTQ+ neighborhood; it’s already onerous for them to easily exist in a world that doesn’t all the time settle for them. We attempt to wrap our minds round what it means to have a president who’s not solely made crude remarks about girls however has really been convicted of sexual assault. Assaults like “Your physique, my selection” and “Get again to the kitchen” had been surging on social media proper after the election. We’re scared of what all of it will imply for primary ideas we’ve discovered about in well being class, like consent and bodily autonomy. How will these basic rights be enforced if our highly effective leaders refuse to respect them? 

Whereas my male associates share these considerations, there’s usually a unique sense of urgency relating to gender-based points. For a lot of women, it seems like our rights are being personally attacked in a visceral means. So many people are feeling this worry for our futures — whether or not it’s about healthcare, training, abortion, or the atmosphere. It’s onerous to not really feel like we’re caught in a second the place progress is transferring backward as a substitute of ahead. 

However I do know the world gained’t change by itself; we’ve to make it occur. My associates and I are dedicated to elevating our voices, whether or not it’s advocating for reproductive rights or serving to guarantee our communities keep protected. We’ll preserve organizing donation drives, internet hosting discussions, and partnering with different teams to amplify our influence and construct stronger communities. As Trump prepares to take workplace, we’re decided that our work gained’t come to a halt. His presidency might threaten the progress we’ve made, however we all know that change doesn’t solely come from the highest. Change occurs as a result of we — younger folks, activists, and people who care — preserve pushing ahead. We’re not helpless. Our work is simply getting began.