In the 2016 election, two candidates were in a very heated race. A lot of contention didn’t come directly from their policy, but rather from their gender identities.

While many people were incredibly excited at the prospect of flipping the Mister President to Madam, the glass ceiling remains unshattered.

There are many bright prospects in the upcoming 2020 election. Those contenders being Warren, Klobuchar and Harris.

There is a wide variety in their policy, and they have been polling quite well in the primaries. Though, this goes back to the place we were in in 2016. Can their policy overshadow the fact that they are females?

According to Politico in 2017, they say yes stating,  “Sexism costs every woman candidate votes. But Hillary Clinton did not lose the presidency in 2016 because she is a woman. She was the wrong candidate for the time. She personified the very institutions voters despised. Americans wanted more than change; they wanted disruption.”

So, the notion still stands, are any of the female candidates in the running the right one for now?

We vote no. While some of us adore Warren and  would be enthralled to cast our vote for her in 2020, we as a whole do not think that she would be able to overcome the innate sexism that comes with the position.

Though we do believe that she has the right policies to have a stronger chance at overcoming where Hillary failed in capturing voters.

“The only woman in my opinion who has a standing chance is Elizabeth Warren,” argues Natalie Carleo, senior communication studies major. “ I think she’s very headstrong and I agree with a lot of her opinions, I think she has what it takes to make actual change in this country.”

With that in mind, it is important to keep the ideal that to win this year at all, let alone with a woman, the Democrats need an impervious candidate. Someone who can speak to the moderates and catch up with the voters that swung red in the 2016 election.

This is where we think women have the hardest time.

“I think there is potential for one of them to win the Democratic nomination but I’m unsure if they could win the presidency, unfortunately,” argues Kayla Acker-Carter, junior environmental engineering major. “I would love to see a female president but with what’s going on with our current president, I’m not sure if this country is ready for a female president.

“However, I believe that a female president will be able to help heal this country from the negativity of the current state we’re in.”

Women have to prove to these voters that not only do they have what it takes to be president, but also that they are worthy of even standing on this platform at all. Women have an extra barrier in trying to become president, mostly due to the idea that women are too emotional, too irrational, too motherly.

To be quite frank, we are not so sure that the current candidates can do this, and prove to the general public why they are worthy of being considered.

Every step that these women take is under the microscope just that much more.

The women running this election cycle are phenomenal. They have amazing policies, some that we would love to see in our government. However, they have too much to overcome in society to win.

While women may be the best option, we do not think that the general public is ready or willing to elect a female president.