They're Speaking.

For many, the last week since the polls officially opened for the US Presidential Race, has been a rollercoaster. A long, very drawn out, excruciating rollercoaster. It may have felt like the result was a decade in finally arriving this weekend but when it did, it ripped the history books open. Joe Biden has been confirmed as the 46th President-Elect and will continue the rather elderly Caucasian line of American Heads of State, but for us here at Compass, all eyes are on the Veep and the incredible women in American politics who gave blood, sweat and tears for this historic moment.

As the newly elected Vice President, Kamala Harris has smashed through the ridiculously out-of-date glass ceiling for young women across the globe. If you don’t know her back story already, look it up, it’s very easy. That’s what Wikipedia is there for, but rest assured, it’s a script writer’s dream. A former attorney, Harris has moved from DA to AG for California to Senate to VP and has done it with integrity and incredible resilience. The road, we’re sure, was never easy and not without frustration, endless dedication, controversy and not a little aggressive prejudice. The life of a politician requires hard decision making, compromise, hopefully a little moral fortitude, states(wo)man-like integrity and a whole heap of leadership. At least that’s the dream – more often than not our politicians fail to make the grade or disappoint across at least two of the aforementioned characteristics. Harris gives us all hope – not just for the office of the Vice President. For all she can achieve for her country, for global citizens affected by American decision making, for young women and girls who see themselves mirrored in their daily news cycle and for spreading that message of hope – that extreme right wing populism cannot rebuild our fractured societies but that a message of inclusion, community and yes, SCIENCE, will save the day.

While Kamala Harris might have the spotlight, there are scores of incredible women seeking election to public office in American politics who have worked without pause for this 2020 battleground. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has retaken her New York 14th District congressional seat for the second time and aims to fight hard to get her Green New Deal to the table. In fact, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib and Ayanna Pressley (all known rather reductively alongside AOC as ‘The Squad”) all fought hard to retake their House seats. Three Native American women were elected to Congress with Deb Haaland, Yvette Herrell and Charice Davids taking seats in the House of Representatives.

Our absolute MVP, though? Take the stage, Stacey Abrams. We could write for days about this woman’s incredible achievements throughout her career to date in public office, but suffice to say, the Biden/Harris ticket would’ve had a few more obstacles to leap over had it not been for her four years of dedication to righting the wrongs of widespread voter suppression. Despite losing her Georgia Gubernatorial race in 2016 by the smallest of margins, Abrams rolled up her sleeves and got to work. Forming voter’s rights organisation, Fair Fight Georgia, she dedicated herself to voter participation and citizen’s rights. By the time this 2020 election rolled into town, she had helped to register more than 800,000 new voters to the electoral role and sounded the war cry country-wide to get the vote out. She was an uncompromising machine and we’re sure will continue to fight the good fight and inspire us all – men and women – in whatever her next call to arms might be.

This may not have been our election, our policies, or our political parties, but here at Compass we will continue to be inspired on the daily by these incredible #compasswomen. Women of public office who dedicate their lives to bettering the chances of others, to fighting when other hands are tied and to working to make our communities stronger. No, we don’t live in Georgia, but to see what can be achieved by rolling up your sleeves and making it happen, well that’s got to be motivation for everyone.

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