youtubeView full post on Youtube

Hillary Clinton is having a big Monday — leaked emails, Boris Johnson hateration, feminist wins and all.

But whether you're on Team HRC or not, you can’t accuse her of shying away from the feminist agenda. Or at least not in this presidential race anyway. Last night, she revealed her first televised ads for her run for office, a tight, minute-long, tear-jerky clip devoted to her late mother, Dorothy. And while the media seems to be zeroing in on the fact that Hillary appears to be making a calculated play for 'real, everday' people — however out of touch and dated that idea seems — I think the real talking point is her unmistakable play for women.

Let’s go back to April when she gave women the world over goosebumps by declaring, ‘the advancement of the full participation of women and girls is the great unfinished business of the 21st century.’ (This, mind you, from a woman who spent years of her career shying away from feminist talking points.) Her first ad, which sets the tone for her race to come, largely supports that message.

In it, she walks viewers through Dorothy’s story (abandoned at 8, runs away from home at 14, and goes on to raise a woman who runs for President of the United States) and shows us how it has inspired her throughout her career. At first glance, it looks like a glance backward. But then Hillary wraps it all up with a very clear look ahead: ‘That’s why I’m doing this. That’s why I’ve always done this. For all the Dorothys.’ The prospect of America’s first woman president is exciting enough. But a president who is ballsy enough to use politics as usual to push women’s equality forward? That’s really worth paying attention to.

Headshot of Kenya Hunt
Kenya Hunt

Kenya Hunt is the Editor-in-Chief of ELLE UK. Her career spans working for some of the world's most influential women’s titles on both sides of the Atlantic from her post-graduate days as an Assistant Editor at the seminal magazine, Jane, to her time as Deputy Editor of Grazia UK and ELLE UK. As the founder of R.O.O.M. Mentoring, she advocates for greater diversity within the fashion industry by providing a supportive network for some of the many talented aspiring designers, journalists and image makers of colour London has to offer. In 2021, she was recognised by The British Fashion Council for her work and given a Global Leader Of Change Award at its annual Fashion Awards. An American based in London, she lives south of the river with her husband and two sons. Her critically-acclaimed book, Girl: Essays on Black Womanhood (HarperCollins/HQ), is out now.