Liberia’s president has said Hillary Clinton’s defeat was a missed opportunity for women around the world, as fears grew that Donald Trump’s victory in the US election would damage women’s lives and political hopes far beyond America’s borders.
The shock result dashed hopes that a first female president could serve as a powerful feminist global figurehead, amid growing concerns that a Trump administration could cut aid funds for some of the most vulnerable women in the world.
“We are extremely saddened by this missed opportunity on the part of the people of the United States to join smaller democracies in ending the marginalisation of women,” Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the first woman to be elected as head of state in Africa, told BBC television.
Multiple allegations of sexual misconduct against Trump, and his lewd comments boasting of assault on leaked footage, are particularly disturbing for campaigners against gender violence.
“Trump’s victory is a clear message to women around the world that we don’t count, that our safety and demands for justice for sexual violence are not important,” said Mona Eltahawy, a Cairo-based writer and feminist.
“When a sexual predator can become president of any country – most of all the most important country in the world – it’s a green light that women’s bodies are fair game.”
In India, activists fighting the country’s endemic violence against women said Trump’s victory was devastating because of America’s global leadership role.
“It is still difficult for a woman to hold a position of political power. Hillary Clinton is more qualified; she has experience. Despite that, this decision. I mean it makes you think: ‘was it because she’s a woman?’” said Khan.
Chinese feminists had been rooting for Clinton, who has occupied a special place in their hearts since giving a famous 1995 speech in Beijing, in which she declared: “Human rights are women’s rights and women’s rights are human rights.”
“I cannot accept the result. I cannot believe my eyes,” said Li Maizi, one of the leading members of China’s nascent feminist movement.
When Li and four other Chinese campaigners were arrested in Beijing as part of a government crackdown last year, Clinton came to her defence, accusing President Xi Jinping of being “shameless” for claiming to speak up for gender equality while “persecuting” feminist activists.
She fears Trump is unlikely to fight for feminists in a similar way. “I have been in a bad mood for the entire day,” Li said. “I will carry on using toilet paper with Trump’s face on it.”
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