As we all know, big changes are being made to Red Tide. Our current leaders are remaking the reputation that has been attached to Red Tide for years, and all male Red Tide leaders have been apart of that reputation from the beginning.

There has been one female leader in the past, but just one. I believe we can do better than that.

In this day and age, the representation of women has been greatly improved but still isn’t equal to those of men. At this rate, it will take 500 years till women have fair representation in government.

According to UN Women, the percentage of women in parliament has doubled in the past 20 years, but this only translates to 22% of women in parliament.

As of September 2016, ten women serve as Head of State and nine as head of Government. Males clearly dominate the number of women in politics, and this is exactly why a female Red Tide leader is needed.

A female Red Tide leader would encourage women to be leaders and to stay represented in all aspects of society. This leader would create many improvements to what Red Tide is all about.

Associate Principal Trista Ramirez said, “If a girl was interested in applying, it would be a great thing to have happen.”

So then why hasn’t a girl applied? It’s because Red Tide has always been something that has been male-dominated. Girls haven’t stepped up because they don’t think they can.

Current Red Tide leader, Tre Gonzales said, “If the school and the Red Tide presidents chose to have a female leader it would show that Red Tide isn’t sexist. It shows that we don’t discriminate people based on gender.”

Gonzales is right. A female leader would change what people think of Red Tide for the better. If a girl stepped up, it would change everything.

Out of all these years, only one has. But why?

Out in the real world, women have little representation, and this minimal representation leads younger girls to believe they have no place in things like politics and business.

“I think having a female Red Tide leader would definitely cause some controversy, but it would be great for people to have a female representative at school to empower younger girls and to spark some feminism at PV,” Junior Francesca Houlbrooke said.

It is clear that our male-dominated society has had an affect on how Red Tide is run. The lack of women in leadership positions out in the real world and here at school have contributed to the path Red Tide has taken. I, and many others, say it is time we have a female Red Tide leader.