Why “Mr. Vice President, I’m Speaking” Was Important

photo courtesy of unsplash / lindsey lamont

When Kamala Harris said, “Mr. Vice President, I’m speaking,” during the debate, Twitter was BUZZING. Within probably three seconds, people had already uploaded captioned gifs of the iconic moment. Well, moments, as she had to say it multiple times. According to CBS News, Pence interrupted Harris ten times, while Harris interrupted Pence five times. The truth is, we’re not surprised this happened, because growing up as a girl, you learn to get used to it. 

I was in class the day after the debate, and my professor opened up a conversation about it. A guy in the class said something along the lines of, “I don’t understand why the media was pinning Pence interrupting Harris as a gender thing.” This statement had the same energy as, “honestly, it wasn’t that deep.” But yes, Chad, yes, it was that deep. Because every woman watching Harris put Pence in his place felt like they were being heard. Heard from a potential vice president. 

For some reason that is literally so beyond us, men feel as if they have to do things that belittle women all. the. damn. time. And the debate was just another instance of that. Pence has probably spent his whole life talking over women, and Harris called him out on it. She got on that stage and she showed him who’s boss. QUEEN. SHIT. 

Harris’s statement doesn’t affect just women, but young girls too. Girls who want to grow up and be whoever they want to be, free of the sexism that exists in the workplace and in everyday life. Girls who feel too intimidated to join the boys playing sports at recess, or who try to talk to a boy in their class and immediately get told they have cooties. We’re not saying, “kill all men 2020,” we’re just saying, “normalize men treating women equally 2020.” Is that too much to ask for? All we want is equality, people. 

Women sit in a room full of men and feel small, while men sit in a room full of women and feel powerful. A woman speaks, and all of a sudden, she has something mansplained to her. Don’t even get us started on the gender wage gap. According to a study from the University of the People, women are paid 81 cents on the dollar compared to men. That doesn’t even include the race gap, which is a whole separate topic. And, it’s not like men do a better job than women (to be honest, they probably do worse). Data from the Center for American Progress tells us that women make up just 5% of Fortune 500 CEOs, which is down from a record high of 6% in 2017. Just when we think we’re making progress, we really aren’t. 

But, ladies, all hope is not lost. Social justice movements such as Me Too are breaking boundaries for women everywhere. So, no, Kamala Harris saying, “Mr. Vice President, I’m speaking,” was not overplayed in the media. Because any girl feeling like she can’t make it in a world dominated by men saw the media buzz, and felt a little more like she could succeed. She felt empowered. She felt worthy.