For my Unit 2 project, I chose to research a woman named Tulsi
Gabbard. At 21 years old, Gabbard was the youngest female to be elected into
the Hawaii House of Representatives, at the time. Gabbard served from 2002 to
2004, when she then volunteered for a 12-month long tour in Iraq as a part of
the Hawaii National Guard. She then worked under U.S. Senator Daniel Akaka
until 2009 when she volunteered again for another tour. Upon her return, in
2011 she was elected into the Honolulu City Council and served until 2012, when
she then decided to give up her seat on the council to focus on her campaign
for the 2nd Congressional District of Hawaii for the U.S. House of
Representatives, which she won with 55% of the vote. But not everything has
been peachy for Tulsi Gabbard. As a woman, in a position of power, and in her
position in the Hawaii National Guard, she’s faced many challenges, but in
those challenges, has overcome so much.
One part of
Tulsi Gabbard’s life that has really impacted and influenced her political
career, is her time spent in the Hawaii National Guard. Gabbard describes being
in congress comparable to being in combat, “There are weapons and things being
thrown back and forth”. I think there is a lot more truth to what she stated
there, than one might initially think. There are a lot of dirty parts to
politics that can get just as ugly as being in the military, I’m sure. But
Gabbard is very strongly opinionated that while she can see these similarities
between the two, she expresses how she doesn’t think the similarities are a good
thing. Gabbard message she learned while in the military is that people from
all over the world, coming from many different places with different ideas, can
still work together because they’re a part of a team, fighting for the same
bigger mission. I personally agree very much with her ideology, and I’m sure a
lot of people could agree we need more of this in congress.
One thing
that makes Tulsi Gabbard different than many others in politics, except the
fact that she’s a woman, is that she’s divorced. Women in politics are often
ridiculed about their family life, like we saw in Parks & Recreation, how Leslie was asked where her children are
and who was taking care of them. There’s no doubt that in the society that we
live in today, Gabbard has gotten some sort of backlash for being divorced.
This is just another stereotype that women face that they should have the
perfect life. They need a perfect husband, have perfect children, a perfect
home, and be the perfect wife. But the reality of that is, not everything can
be perfect. But when you’re in the eye of the public like that, women and men
politicians are held to a higher standard than ‘normal people’ are.
Something
that Tulsi Gabbard is very proud of, and mentions in her Makers video interview is the “Helping Veterans Fly Act”, which
eases travel for wounded and disabled veterans. This was Gabbard’s first piece
of legislation that was unanimously passed in congress, and signed into law by
the president, all within about four months. “Here in congress sometimes people
assume that with youth comes naiveté and inexperience, but I think it allows
for a different type of energy and a different type of contribution; Not
willing to except “No that’s not possible” as an answer.” Gabbard’s quote here
can be taken into context of feminism as well. She believes in herself, as a
woman, and as a legislature. I think she sends out a great message to women
aspiring to practice politics, or anything that is held to a high standard in
our society. Whether you’re a man or a woman, we all have some sort of obstacle
to overcome and Tulsi Gabbard sends out a great message for anyone trying to achieve
those high goals.
Tulsi Gabbard grew up as a shy, Hawaiian girl,
but has transformed into a headstrong, heartfelt, down to earth congresswoman,
and Hawaii National Guard member. When Gabbard first started out, she said her
biggest obstacle was working up the courage to knock on people’s doors to talk
about her campaign. Some people would call that naive and would say she wasn’t
ready for the responsibility she was about to take on. But I believe that just
showed how much she really cared about all of this, that she was concerned about
what individual people thought about her topics. And now she’s met with the
Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, and has spoken at the Democratic National
Convention in 2012. Tulsi Gabbard is a great role model, some one that everyone
could look up to, and is making big changes in the world of politics for women.
Works Cited
Cavuto, Neil. Gabbard, Tulsi. “Interview
with Hawaii Congresswomen Tulsi Gabbard”. International
Wire. January 21, 2015. Accessed November 12, 2016.
Cavuto, Neil. Gabbard, Tulsi. “Interview
with Hawaii Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard”. International
Wire. June 18, 2015. Accessed November 12, 2016.
“Tulsi Gabbard”. Makers. Accessed November 12, 2016.
*I know those two articles are named the same, and by the
same person, but they are in fact different articles*
