The writer and journalist Caitlin Donohue, author of the book 'She represents' in Mexico City, Barbara Byrd
For the first time, the United States will be able to vote for a black woman as vice president in the November 3 election.
Kamala Harris, of an Indian mother and Jamaican father, has focused her political message on the representation of gender and ethnic origin.
"I see you.
I hear you, ”is her mantra.
When she says it, she is looking directly at American girls.
The Democratic candidate is one of the 44 women profiled in the book
She Represents
, written by American journalist Caitlin Donohue, who lives in Mexico City.
The book, published in English by the Lerner publishing house, includes illustrations of each of the characters.
These range from heads of state such as Angela Merkel, from Germany, and Jacinda Ardern, from New Zealand, to parliamentary representatives such as Tatiana Clouthier, in Mexico, and the Chilean Camila Vallejo.
It also includes Latin Americans Carmen Yulín Cruz Soto, mayor of Puerto Rico, and Marielle Franco, who was a member of the government council in Rio de Janeiro and an LGBTQI activist until she was assassinated in 2018.
Donohue, 35, is a first-time author.
Her career began in San Francisco as a journalist covering union movements and hippie culture in California.
Her work includes an investigation that exposed the sexual abuse of a well-known blogger from that city.
Originally from Austin (Texas), she has always sought to combine gender issues with culture.
She is the author of the first profile in English of the Puerto Rican reggaeton singer Bad Bunny.
This is not an interview book, Donohue clarifies.
She Represents
is a collection of the stories of these women: where they come from, how they came to represent citizens and what their ideals are.
The book is also not written for fans or followers but for teenagers curious to understand how these women have risen to different political positions.
It is about awakening interest in democratic representation.
Donohue says, for example, that Camila Vallejo started as head of the Student Federation of the University of Chile.
This radical student organization detonated with a protest an entire movement that ended up changing the political composition of the country.
“Now she is a deputy, so I wanted to include her because it is a very clear case of the link between student politics and major league politics.
If this is a book for teenagers, I have to show that the things you do as a teenager can lead you to a very important position later in life, ”says the author.
The publication of the book coincides with the impending elections in the US and portrays Democrats and Republicans alike.
Even, says Donohue, the original idea was only to profile American politicians and rulers, but the polarizing context in her native country as well as the work that women leaders have done in other countries, influenced her decision to open up to the rest of the world.
“Too often, we are taught to limit our view of the world to just the United States,” says Donohue, who has lived in Mexico for six years.
"I truly believe that the world would be a better place if people in the United States knew more about other countries."
Much has already been said about how countries with female leaders have better navigated the coronavirus pandemic compared to other male leaders.
Donohue also decided to include Michigan State Governor Gretchen Whitmer at the last minute.
“Michigan was one of the places in the US that saw right-wing armed groups demonstrate against the wearing of masks, demonstrating against the shutdown of the economy and Gretchen was one of the few rulers who confronted these people to say 'this It's not okay, we're not just going to open everything because you want to eat at McDonald's or something.
We are all in this together'."
There is no shortage of figures who have become icons of feminism in politics such as the representative for a district in New York, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Elizabeth Warren, senator, both from the Democratic Party.
She Represents
also includes women from the ultra-right, such as Donald Trump's Secretary of Education, Betsy Devos, and Elaine Chao, head of the Department of Transportation.
“It was very important to me to include the women of the Trump administration, because this is a book about role models, it is a book about the women who are most influential in global politics today.
You might think they believe in things that you don't, but still, it's important for teens to know about them and it's important to know their life story and be able to connect those things to be like, why does this woman have these political values?
Well, we can go back and we can see where she grew up, who were the members of her family, what obstacles she has encountered in life, "says the author.