A potential first female US president would be a political milestone not just for America but for other democracies like Australia, advocates say, ahead of Kamala Harris' likely endorsement as candidate in the upcoming election.
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President Joe Biden announced he would not seek re-election after mounting pressure to drop out and endorsed Ms Harris as his successor to run against Donald Trump in the presidential election on November 5.
While Ms Harris would have to be formally nominated at the Democratic Party's national convention in August, chief executive of Women for Election Australia Licia Heath said the move would be "significant" for women in politics around the world.
"Compared with Australia and other western democracies, America is the stand out in terms of being a laggard of having women in the top job," she told AAP.
"America is behind other countries in comparison, and their time is well and truly due.
"(Harris) being vice president in this particular term and having taken over from the previous administration puts her in a very strong strategic advantage in terms of any future debate with Trump."
Ms Heath, whose organisation is aimed at increasing female representation in federal politics, said the significance was heightened with Ms Harris, who could be the first woman of colour elected as president, should she win in November.
If nominated in August, Ms Harris would be just the second woman to be chosen by a major US party for president, and Ms Heath said the political environment had changed dramatically since Hillary Clinton's campaign in 2016.
"We know (Ms Harris) will have barriers present that would not be there for Joe Biden, and she would have commentary on what she's wearing from day one, and that's something Biden would never have to adhere to," she said.
"But I take heart that the difference between now and 10 years ago is the public are more intolerant when reporting on that happens."
Director of Pathways to Politics at the University of New South Wales, Rosalind Dixon, said a possible female president for the US would be symbolic for the world.
However, she said the circumstances that elevated Ms Harris to the likely presidential candidate status had similarities with that of other female executives, known as the glass cliff.
"There is a tendency for women to be elevated to a higher position right at the time that an organisation or a government is about to fail," she said.
"The worry is that Harris steps into the role (as candidate) and runs out of time when there is a uniquely different and short runway up to the election, and you've got an opponent who will use every tactic in the book to win, or at least claim to have a mandate."
Australian Associated Press
