article_snippet.sent: (CNN)Hillary Clinton finally answered the question we've all been asking for years: Will CNN)Hillary Clinton run for president in 2016?
article_snippet.sent: With official news of CNN)Hillary Clinton candidacy just hours old, one thing is already crystal clear: For the next year and a half, Hillary Clinton's will be the barometer by which we assess gender equality in the United States.
article_snippet.sent: Win or lose, this creates a burden for CNN)Hillary Clinton that no male candidate will ever have to shoulder.
article_snippet.sent: A win would mean a woman in the White House, which is a vital step in the march toward women's full political inclusion.
article_snippet.sent: We'll raise the "Mission Accomplished" banner over the women's movement.
article_snippet.sent: But We've elected a woman as president," We'll say.
article_snippet.sent: More generally, Clinton loss would perpetuate the myth that women cannot win big elections, that the electoral environment is rife with bias and discrimination, and that women must be twice as good to get half as far.
article_snippet.sent: If Clinton can't win an election," potential female candidates will ask, "How can I?
article_snippet.sent: Too often, we treat Clinton's loss to Barack Obama in the 2008 Democratic primary as a referendum on how citizens feel about electing women to positions of political power.
article_snippet.sent: women who have run for office win elections at equal rates and routinely raise comparable amounts of money.
article_snippet.sent: Now, I'll be the first to predict that by the middle of the week, we will be able to assemble a reel of sexist comments uttered by pundits, and we will be one mouse click away from a steady stream of misogynistic memes, photos and captions that have taken hold on social media.
article_snippet.sent: Yet the minute Clinton announced Clinton candidacy, Clinton became the official litmus test for true gender equality in the United States.
article_snippet.sent: That's a label that no female candidate should have to wear.
highlights_snippet.sent: There's a strong temptation to view Hillary Clinton's candidacy as all about cracking the glass ceiling for women .
  