Despite her poignant loss in 2016, Hillary Clinton was not the first, nor will she be the last, woman to run for president to eventually lose to her male counterparts.

Before Clinton ever set foot on the stage at the Democratic National Convention, many women attempted to traverse an election system rife with implicit bias and sexism.

Take for instance Victoria Woodhull, who in 1872 became the first woman to run for president as the candidate for the Equal Rights Party. A suffragette, Woodhull ran for president at a time in which women did not even have the legal right to vote. 

In fact, women who showed up to the polls to vote for any party in the 1872 election were arrested.

This is very different from today, in which all men and women have the right to vote. And a record number are doing so. On top of that, a record number of women are running for office this election season.

Yet, while many glass ceilings have been broken since the 1800s there is still one that has yet to be unmasked — there has never been a woman elected as president of the United States.

However, with the 2020 election season ahead of us, there is hope.

Many viable politicians have already announced their candidacy, including sens. Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren, Kirsten Gillibrand and Rep. Tulsi Gabbard.

America was shocked in 2016 that a woman was serious about becoming the president, yet not shocked when a businessman with little political experience won the presidency.

So many women have been elected into positions of power in other countries, yet our country refuses to let go of its tight grip on old traditions. Like other countries around us, we must aim to evolve from these old practices.

As of right now, with all the women that seem to be running for office in 2020, elections look promising. We need someone who has a different view of the world and is able to represent others across the board.

This doesn’t necessarily mean that in the future a white, male president would be incapable of providing a diverse enough opinion. People change, and opinions can shift.

Right now, it just means that we need a new set of open-minded eyes on issues regarding our ever-changing society.