Maximilien Robespierre once said, “The secret of freedom lies in educating people, whereas the secret of tyranny is in keeping them ignorant.” This is one of the reasons why I try to be as politically informed as possible. Although I know that political parties have changed in the past 100 years and may change drastically in my lifetime, I can’t imagine ever voting for someone who believes that women shouldn’t have reproductive rights or that gay people shouldn’t be allowed to get married.

Although I support Senator Bernie Sanders as a Democrat in a vastly Republican state, I often get asked if I would vote for Secretary Hillary Clinton if she wins the nomination. Yes, I tell them. Usually, people say something like, “Why? She’s a liar,” or more often, “But she’s a [insert any misogynistic four-letter word here].” This is why I would vote for Clinton.

Men do not get called “ugly” when they have a political opinion that differs from yours. On both sides I have heard people say, “We can’t have someone who looks like that running the country,” meaning both Secretary Clinton and, previously, Carly Fiorina. Really? We’ve had 44 male presidents, and I don’t recall hearing that their appearance was a factor, despite the fact that the majority of them were none too good looking – ’though, (B)Abe Lincoln was considered quite the looker in the 1800s.

Occasionally, I get asked, “Would you vote for a candidate just because she’s a woman?” and once again, my answer is yes. There has not been one woman president in the 200-plus years of the United States of America. Does this not reek of injustice? Women were only given the right to vote 96 years ago, and that right was grotesquely contested then, and for years after. Women were told to stay at home, that they needed a man to provide for them – to think for them – and that they were not equal to men.

Sadly, many of those ideas still exist today. Today, women still don’t get paid as much as men do for the same work. Today, women still get told to “cover up”; we teach girls to be afraid instead of teaching boys not to rape. This sexism has gone on for far too long, and I believe a woman president would help put an end to it.