In the long and still unfinished process to achieve equality between men and women, one of the perhaps most significant milestones that the female sex has not yet achieved is to reach the position that confers the most power in the world today:the presidency of the United States.
It seems possible that in the near future Hillary Clinton could reach the highest magistracy of her country, with which the curious circumstance will occur that who was once known as the First Lady of the United States becomes President ( which leads us to wonder by what name the former president and husband of Hillary, Bill Clinton, will be known by in that case).
However, the object of today's entry is quite another. As far back as 1872, there was already an intrepid and pioneering woman who, defying the conventions of her time, ran for office for a position that was not as important in the world at the time as it is today. This woman was our protagonist today Victoria Woodhull.
Born in Ohio in 1838, Victoria was a strong supporter of women's and workers' rights as well as the cause of free love; In addition, throughout his life he carried out activities that at that time seemed uncharacteristic of his sex, such as the foundation of a weekly newspaper (the first publication where Karl Marx's Communist Manifesto was translated into English) and the creation of a brokerage firm in Wall Street along with his sister.
However, the fact for which she has gone down in history is that of having become the first woman candidate for the presidency of the United States. In the campaign for the presidential elections of 1872, she Victoria led the candidacy for the position of the newly created Equal Rights Party at the meeting it held on May 10, 1872 in New York.
His campaign was peppered with obstacles and scandals:from the appointment as Vice President of a black, former slave and leader of the abolitionist movement Frederick Douglass (who refused to accept his appointment) to the arrest of Victoria days before the elections for the publication of an article deemed obscene by authorities accusing a well-known New York Protestant minister named Henry Ward Beacher of adultery. In the presidential election Woodhull did not get any votes from the electoral colleges and there is no evidence of the number of popular votes that supported her candidacy.
Victoria was not daunted by these difficulties and tried to appear again up to two more times while continuing her active fight for the rights of women and workers, all within the framework of a fascinating personal life that led her to settle in England… but that's another story.
Anyone who wants to learn more about Victoria Woodhill's biography can visit the following links, which have served as a source for writing this entry:Bio Victoria Woodhill; National Women´s History Museum.
Image| Victoria Woodhull