By Caleigh Bartash

Days after Kamala Harris became the first woman elected as vice president, students at the University of Maryland said her win is a huge step forward but still not enough.

During her victory speech on Saturday, Nov. 7, Harris said, “While I may be the first woman in this office, I won’t be the last.” Harris is the first woman to reach the nation’s second highest office as well as the first Black and Asian American woman. 

Kavya Kumaran, co-president and co-founder of the South Asian Student Association, said Harris’ win allows her to see herself represented in American leadership. 

“It really feels like our identity is now undeniably part of the fabric of this country, in a very legitimate way,” said Kumaran, a senior accounting and management double major. 

Some of Kumaran’s family members came from the same region in India as Harris’ mother, a state called Tamil Nadu. Kumaran was at home with her family when her mother shouted up from the basement that Harris and Biden had won.

Kumaran said it was hard to express her happiness over Harris’ victory.

“In that moment, I don’t even know that there are words, just to completely describe the depth of my feelings because I felt unbridled joy,” she said.

Avni Khera, a senior communications major, said she felt empowered by Harris’ victory speech.

“It kind of just showed me that while there are barriers, there’s nothing that we can’t do if we don’t work hard for it,” Khera said.

Harris is the daughter of Indian immigrant Shyamala Gopalan and Jamaican immigrant Donald Harris. President-elect Joe Biden chose her as his running mate in August after months of speculation and a pledge to choose a woman.

Iris Yu, vice president of UMD Empowering Women in Law, said seeing a woman in the White House – and so close to the presidency – makes her proud.

“I think this is a huge, huge step forward for all of us,” said Yu, a government and politics major. “Regardless of political affiliation, ideology, all that aside, I think we should all look at this as a huge achievement for everybody.”

All of the women interviewed said Harris’ performance at the vice presidential debate stood out to them. Yu said one response to outgoing Vice President Mike Pence was particularly relatable.

“When she really stood up and said, ‘Mr. Vice President, I’m speaking.’ I think that was very, very important, especially because women everywhere know what it’s like to be talked over,” she said.

Before partnering with Biden, Harris ran for president and even clashed with the former vice president during early Democratic debates. She dropped out in December before primary voting began, endorsed Biden in March and as his running mate, played a key role on the campaign trail amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Kumaran said while she hopes Harris becomes president one day, she was not sure that it would have worked out if the former California Senator was able to lead the ticket this year.

“I don’t know that I believe that after electing Donald Trump we could go to electing a woman of color as the president automatically,” Kumaran said. “I don’t know that I have that much faith.”

Harris was not the only woman to win in 2020. Women won a record number of seats in the House of Representatives, including at least 35 Republican women. Khera said that she wanted to see the trend of electing women to higher offices continue and rebutted the stereotype that women are overly emotional.

“Women are strong and smart and can perform well under pressure and can perform in these high-level roles,” Khera said.

Kumaran said Harris’ win was a big step in the right direction, but that it would not be the end of the fight for gender or racial equality. She referenced the vice president-elect’s victory speech.

“I think we have to keep going. [Harris] said, ‘I may be the first but I will not be the last.’ And in order for that to be true, we have to continue to make opportunities for leadership like that available in multiple different spaces in this country,” Kumaran said.

Yu said the nation needs to do more to give everybody a fair shot.

“I think we need to do better because Kamala Harris is just one person, but there’s millions of little girls out there who looked up to Ruth Bader Ginsburg, or now Kamala, that want to do the same thing but might encounter pitfalls along the way that might hinder their progress,” she said. 

Featured photo courtesy of Gage Skidmore from Wikimedia Commons.