It was impressive that Joe Biden chose her as a political partner, despite her being publicly critical of his position on race matters in the past. And it probably is too early for the USA to embrace a female leader of colour as their highest ranking authority figure. When she ran for Senate and later as President, campaigns fuelled by misogyny and skepticism of her race and gender portrayed her as ambitious and ruthless. But she has also managed to maintain a scandal free personal life, a blended family who publicly respect and love her, and regularly shares her love of cooking and recipes as a strategic message that she can multi-skill enough to step mother the whole country as well as guide the policy by which it is governed.
As Vice President, Kamala Harris holds significant public space and position, and in looking at her life path, I note that, as she has earned these over the years, she has chosen to recognise and praise every positive aspect of her life. This has enabled people to invest their belief in her, and also to respect the way she has brought her intelligence and her communicative capacities to bear, as she undertakes her work.
A few days before her inauguration, I was invited to join a private Facebook Group, called Wear Your Pearls. To honour Kamala’s achievement and stand with her symbolically, women all over the world pledged to wear pearls: necklaces, earrings, bracelets and coronets; chokers and multiple strands; white pearls and rare black pearls; pearls combined with precious and semi-precious stones; pearls both faux and real; pearls which were bought by themselves and pearls handed down in their families for generations.
Why pearls? They shine. And with their sheen and subtle allure they have come to epitomize glamour, elegance, sophistication and feminine beauty. Women of many cultures and generations inherit pearls from their mothers and grandmothers and wear them on special occasions as a visual tribute to the event they are attending.
spontaneous expression of global sisterhood. Many women shared photographs of themselves wearing their pearls, and often showed images of their baby girls dressed in their own pearls as well. They described showing their toddlers the pictures of Kamala Harris being sworn in on the 20th of January, and telling their daughters and granddaughters: ‘Look darling, see - the Vice President looks like us’.
Many of the African American and Latina women wear their pearls as they go into or recover from surgery. So many of these photographs show us the resilience and courage of these ladies. They are disproportionately likely to suffer from illness: to experience disadvantage both medical and financial, because of their race and the lower sociocultural status accorded to them at birth by the societies in which they live.
The economic disadvantages experienced by their communities make the images we are shown of ladies proudly wearing their pearls to commemorate their own midlife graduations, and the graduations of their daughters and granddaughters, even more admirable, and poignant. What a tribute it is to their ongoing dedication and determination to gain an education, to commit to ongoing progress, to develop themselves to levels of exceptional success, capability and achievement, and refuse to accept second or third class status in their societies. To survive, and to thrive.
Many ladies in this group dress up in glamorous gowns and stylish outfits to show off their pearls, in all their irridescent diversity, and many of them share the pictures of themselves wearing their pearls on their birthdays. It is a wonderful sight, to see so many women of all ages celebrating their beauty, strength and personal self worth in this uniquely lustrous way.
Kamala Harris herself wears her pearls to commemorate her own sorority group, Alpha Kappa Alpha, the oldest black sorority group in the U.S. This sorority was founded 113 years ago, at Howard University, in Washington, with the aim of encouraging academic and scholastic excellence, fostering a spirit of service and having as a central focus the improvement of the status and recognition of women in a community which has suffered intensely from systemic barriers of intersectional oppression and the limiting views and practices imposed by racist policy.
Throughout the 20th century, this sorority contributed substantially to their community during The Great Migration, The Depression of the 1930s and the Civil Rights era. They have also worked internationally to support struggling communities in Africa through development programmes focused in rural areas, to increase education and improve employment opportunities.
This sorority has focused on community building in the areas of health, education, business and family, and has contributed in the career building enterprise and advancement of many women who are credited with breaking barriers and shattering the glass ceilings of power and influence in contemporary American society.
As we share our photographs, and start and join in conversations with these women, we understand more fully what ‘standing up for ourselves’ means in societies where being born female has traditionally been a hindrance to individual success. We see women of all physiques and facial features, dressing up to honour one of our own.
And now it’s been a fortnight since the Inauguration Day, the group numbers almost half a million members internationally, and many have suggested we carry it further, to wear our pearls on every 20th of the month, for example, and for every occasion we have opportunity to celebrate - not only our personal and professional achievements but our courage in ordeals and tribulations.
The name of the group is now ‘United By Pearls’ and we have an opportunity going forward to organize and build a ‘tribe of successful women’ to support and encourage each other’s success.
It has been fascinating to be given insight into the lives and celebrations of women in other countries, in this vivid and personal way. Pearls look wonderful on dark skin in all its vibrant tones. And as Sri Lanka has long been known as ‘the Pearl of the Indian Ocean’, it’s especially good to see many of the ladies here joining this international celebration of sisterhood.
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