Local women react to President-elect Donald Trump’s win.

Right around the time Hillary Rodham Clinton announced she was running for president, in the spring of 2015, a group of local women met in Monterey County Supervisor Jane Parker’s living room in Marina.

They hatched a plan to form a local chapter of the National Women’s Political Caucus, a nonpartisan group devoted to getting more women elected to office. In one their first meetings, in May 2015, about 40 women gathered at a time when it looked like the ultimate glass ceiling was on the brink of cracking: A woman might finally take the White House.

That energy kept on: The local chapter became a nonprofit, and Mary Adams retired as CEO of United Way to run an improbable challenge against four-term County Supervisor Dave Potter, unseating him in the June primary. When she’s sworn in in January, it will be the first time in about 25 years that more than one woman has served on the Board of Supervisors.

“I don’t know whether it was the Hillary Effect, but I honestly believe that being a woman and running was an advantage for me,” Adams says. “I don’t think a male candidate would’ve had the same success. People were so ready for change, and gender was one additional element of it.”

It had been shaping up to be a year when being a woman in politics was an asset. Commentators and news outlets, including the Weekly, dubbed 2016 the Year of the Woman. In the months leading up to the election, the presidential race seemed to be Clinton’s to lose. Her opponent, Donald Trump, seemed to be systematically alienating every subset of the population: Muslims, Mexicans, people with disabilities, women.

Meanwhile, there seemed to be opportunities everywhere for women to take on more leadership roles in 2016. Two women, U.S. Rep. Loretta Sanchez and Attorney General Kamala Harris, made it through a 34-candidate primary to face off for retiring Sen. Barbara Boxer’s seat. Two women, Watsonville City Councilmember Karina Cervantez Alejo and former Assemblymember Anna Caballero, vied to succeed Assemblymember Luis Alejo. (Harris and Caballero won in landslides.)

But in the state capitol, the number of women lawmakers is slipping. The new California Legislature will have just 27 women out of 120 seats, or 22 percent – the lowest proportion since 1999, according to the Sacramento news site CALMatters.

In Monterey County, only one of 12 mayors, Maria Orozco of Gonzales, is a woman. Women hold 22 of 69 county – and city-level elected positions, just 32 percent. (After the Nov. 8 election is certified and newly elected officials are sworn in, just one City Council – Carmel – will have a female majority.)

Clinton had first planned an election night party under an actual glass ceiling in New York City. Instead, she lost to a man who’s advocated for criminalizing abortion and who was captured on tape in 2005 talking flippantly about sexually assaulting women: “When you’re a star they let you do it,” Trump said. “You can do anything… grab ’em by the pussy. You can do anything.” Indeed, it would seem you can do anything – even win a presidential election with votes from millions of women.

The Weekly asked about 60 local women (friends, acquaintances and elected officials) to weigh in on Trump’s victory and what it shows about the role of gender in their lives and in the nation. A selection of 22 responses, some provided in writing and others in interviews, follow.

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Kaitlin Drake

Junior at CSU Monterey Bay, Marina

For women, Trump’s victory means a confirmation of what we feared the most; we still do not hold as much value as human beings in this country as a cis-gendered, white, heterosexual male who aims to assert his power. It means an alarmingly large number of people would rather overlook his verbal and physical assaults on women to return to the “comfort zone” of seeing a white man in power. I’m not comfortable.

I am scared, but I do not want my fear to lead me to the misconception that everyone who has voted for Trump is filled with hate. This will not lead to the healing and understanding we need in this country.

Sylvia Panetta

CEO of the Panetta Institute for Public Policy, Carmel Valley

It remains to be seen what will happen. Let’s see what he says and what he does: His actions will speak louder than his words.

As far as the glass ceiling is concerned, it would have been broken if Hillary was elected. We shouldn’t feel like this is a setback: The country has spoken. Look at the red states. There’s no question that people have made a statement. But we need to continue to raise our girls with the knowledge that they are smart, they are capable and they can achieve. We just have to keep going. We cannot stop.

To women in my generation, who have seen the 20th century evolve in attitudes toward women and minorities, it is a steady pace in the right direction. The election could be perceived as a setback, but it should not. We just keep going, we keep educating our children, and make sure that our women have opportunities. It’s a grassroots effort. It’s an effort in which we have to constantly be aware of.

I have three granddaughters and three grandsons. They’re wonderful, bright and capable, and we watch them all move ahead. That’s what we do.

Carla Nierlich

Technical writer, Salinas

Hillary lost because she ran a poor campaign that was too establishment. It was the same campaign she ran eight years ago. When she won the nomination, she did nothing to get Bernie supporters on her side.

A Trump presidency is disastrous for women. Being president means you set the example for the rest of the country. Trump has set an example of a knuckle-dragging ape. He’s given men (mostly) the right to be misogynist, bigoted jerks who think sexual assault is OK.

I worry about women’s reproductive rights. With his beliefs about abortion and overturning Roe v. Wade, we’ll go back to the ’50s – the 1850s.

I am furious at women who 1) voted for Trump and 2) didn’t vote at all because “it was such a nasty campaign.” As women and U.S. citizens, it is our responsibility to vote. It is our responsibility to speak up for ourselves and other women. If we don’t, who will? Certainly not the president-elect.

Mary Adams

Monterey County supervisor-elect, District 5, Pebble Beach

I think the reason I am struggling with the results of the election is that I believed women thought more of one another than the election results seem to substantiate. Even though some women thought Hillary was not the perfect candidate, I expected they could vote for her anyway, trusting that her experience, brilliance and lifelong dedication to public service would allow her to surround herself with other like-minded people and we would all therefore thrive. I believe women voting against her was women voting against themselves.

I am trying not to use words like “shocking” or “disastrous,” and am focusing more on how so many of us – myself included – could have missed hearing the voices of so many others of us. It is sad that a number of my mentors, men and women, are dispirited because they realize they probably will not see a woman elected as president in their lifetimes.

My personal plan is to rely on the primary strength women bring to the table – resilience. As I prepare for my swearing in to the Board of Supervisors in January, I recommit myself to a campaign promise: I will listen and I will learn. However painful the future may seem at this point to some people, I have great confidence in our country and great confidence that by listening and seeking common ground – another skill at which women excel – we may be able to accomplish what we need to do at the local level.

Sue McCloud

Former mayor and retired from the CIA, Carmel

We have come a long way, baby! In just-concluded local, state and federal elections, the focus has been on women in political leadership. Let’s look at the bigger picture. It wasn’t that long ago that girls at Carmel High School could only play half-court basketball; contrast that with feats of female athletes today in Olympic and professional sports. Women CEOs and heads of state are found in all areas of the world (except president of the United States) and are also working equally with men in space. To break remaining glass – or even stainless steel – ceilings, women need to reach down and offer a hand up to the next generation so they can build on what their current role models have achieved.

In the recent Carmel centennial parade, we were reminded of the role of suffragettes: Almost a century ago women won the right to vote with ratification of the 19th Amendment, ensuring women, like men, deserve all rights and responsibilities of citizenship. Let’s seize opportunities to continue to go forward.

Regina Gage

Monterey County Central Committee member and incoming president of Democratic Women of Monterey County, Prunedale

This should be used as a reality check for all of us. The Democratic Party needs to take a long step back and engage in serious reflection. This includes local political groups such as the Monterey County Democratic Central Committee and the Democratic Women of Monterey County. We are isolated in our beautiful bubble on the Central Coast.

Allegedly, many people who will be hurt by the promises Trump made on the campaign trail did not vote. What kind of person sits out an election of this magnitude, and how do women reconcile voting for a sexist, bullying megalomaniac? As a feminist, one of the most disturbing facts is that so many women voted for him, and that it did not seem to matter what he said or did.

Nellie Dominguez

Junior at CSU Monterey Bay, Marina

Trump’s victory gives me a tremendous amount of anxiety. It’s no secret that Donald Trump constantly spoke of women like they were objects or pieces of meat, but yet somehow a good portion of Americans – women included – were able to look past all of that and still consciously vote for him. What that tells me is that whether it’s subconscious or not, they don’t see women as people. That they think it’s OK to assault and harass women when we don’t give them what they want.

I graduate in a few years and I will have a career soon; I don’t know where, but if it is a male-dominated workplace, I’m very afraid to find out how that will be.

To say that I’m worried and anxious for the future is an understatement… it makes me feel like I can’t trust anyone.

No matter what side or who someone voted for, we all have one thing in common: We’re unhappy, things aren’t getting done, needs aren’t being met and we are a very divided nation.

Kathy Uccello

Stay-at-home mom, Monterey

Hillary Clinton was not my first-choice candidate, but I supported her in the general election. I thought of it more as a consolation prize that we were going to have the first woman president (after Bernie Sanders “lost” the primary). I was shocked that she didn’t win and more heartbroken than I would have expected. I know that not every Trump voter is racist or misogynistic, but there is an undercurrent. I think the extreme dislike of Hillary was based on hatred of women, because she is obviously not any more corrupt than any other career politician, and much more honest than Donald Trump based on fact checkers.

Imagine if a woman ran for office with no experience, three marriages and adultery in her background. Sure Hillary had baggage, but the race was so close (she won the popular vote) that I think if she were a man she would have won.

I have been angry, sad, hurt by this result. I feel like my husband doesn’t really understand how devastating this result is. I am really worried about a global climate catastrophe and the specter of nuclear war. I know that I am not anywhere near the front line of people to be affected by him, as I am a straight white U.S. citizen.

Koly McBride

Paper Wing Theatre Company owner, Gonzales

I think this election hasn’t created a new hatred of women. The misogynistic commentary has just been pulled from the hushed secret caves and thrust into the spotlight. I don’t think more men now hate women; I think more hate is recently having the light shined on it and becoming more socially acceptable or at least more socially tolerated.

A “nasty woman” is just another way to call an assertive, successful, direct woman a bitch and try to shame her into behaving differently. This is something we have heard for years. The words we speak create the world we live in.

Carissa Purnell

Newly elected member of the board of Salinas Valley Memorial Healthcare System, Salinas

The election of Trump has shifted my worldview to remind me that despite our efforts and accomplishments in advocating for equity and tolerance, that there is much more work to be done. It reminds me that while we look to history to find inspiration, we must serve as the next wave of social change-makers.

It is our responsibility as women, as women of color, to be be unapologetically courageous and honest in the face of the hate and misogyny that has now reared it ugly head. We have no choice but to move forward in order to protect the tolerance and justice so many before us have worked to create for each of us. I will continue to be the bigger person, to use love as my guiding framework, and commit to never being silent. I have no respect for our current president-elect, his lack of moral character, and vulgar treatment of women and people of color, and that is why I must move forward with more dignity and ruthless grace to model for our children that Trump does not represent what honest and ethical leadership looks like.

Janna Gentle

Student at Gavilan View Middle School, Salinas

Why in the world would you want somebody who brags about sexually assaulting women, says women weren’t “pretty enough” to assault, disrespects women, calls all Mexicans “rapists,” and just degrades people like my mom who is Mexican? The fact that he’s going to be president scares the living crap out of me.

As a 13-year-old, hearing all the stuff he says and does is crazy. I would never believe someone who degrades women and is openly racist would ever become president.

Frances Esters

Business consultant, Salinas

(Editor’s note: This opinion was filed before Election Day.) I am not in any way, shape or form thinking that Hillary winning will change a damn thing for women. Quite honestly, I am still not sure how I feel about her quite possibly being the first female president. I am happy to see that a woman in this day and age was able to get on the ballot but, at the end of the day, who rules this country?

Not the president. Will Hillary be able to have enough power to change the system that is run by men? My only hope is that Hillary winning will inspire more females to take part in the system as the women who battled for us to gain the right to vote. I also hope that Hillary does not sell us out and take away our choice of power over our own bodies.

A female president should be a calling to the world that America is finally catching a clue – but in this election, how many are voting for her simply because they do not want to see Trump win? This is not a victory for Hillary or women at large.

We have so much work left to do and it’s going to be ugly and painful. No matter who wins, the rhetoric that is about to be flung far and wide hopefully will fire up this country to finally start down the path to meaningful conversation and change.

Clare Mounteer

Executive director of the Monterey County Rape Crisis Center, Pacific Grove

We’ve seen more progress on the current administration’s watch in the fight to end sexual violence than ever before. Vice President Joe Biden championed the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) many years ago and in the last few years he and President Obama have made the issue one of the central issues of their administration, bringing new awareness to the problem of sexual assault on college campuses. VAWA and its companion piece, the Victims of Crime Act (VOCA), fund victim services such as rape crisis centers and safe houses, prevention programs and law enforcement agencies throughout the country. Will these key pieces of legislation stay in place with a president who has boasted about not seeking consent when grabbing and kissing women whenever he feels like it?

Because of increased awareness of sexual violence and the availability of supportive services for survivors, women have become emboldened to speak out about sexual abuse and harassment suffered at the hands of wealthy and powerful men – including the president-elect.

It is hard to imagine that, once awakened, this sleeping giant of an issue is going to return to the shadows. It is important that women make their voices heard to their newly elected representatives now more than ever. We have come too far in the last 25 years to have our daughters begin the struggle all over again.

Maija West

Leadership coach and attorney, Carmel Valley

We must look at what we mean by “women’s leadership” as we move forward. In my experience, many women’s leadership models and networks provide a message that we must be strong, do it all, and do it better in order to succeed as women.

The message assumes that masculine leadership models must be emulated in order to succeed. This is not true. In fact, it is a losing proposition for women because it asks us to override our natural sense of what it means to lead. And that is not authentic, which is why I think Hillary did not invoke the passion needed from the electorate in order to win. The leadership model that I believe in is one that challenges assumptions about leadership. That leadership does not have to be cutthroat competition or hierarchal.

Kayla Jones

Newly elected City Council member, Seaside

Trump’s victory reaffirms the importance of involving women in the political process at all levels. To paraphrase Marian Wright Edelman, “You cannot be what you cannot see.”

The fact that 53 percent of white women voted for Trump as opposed to Clinton tells me that she did not lose the election because she was deemed a “nasty woman.” In my view, Clinton lost because Trump rode the undercurrent of homophobia, islamophobia, xenophobia, sexism and racism that has always been present in our country to victory.

Kathryn Ramirez

Educator and school board member, Salinas

(Editor’s note: This opinion was filed before Election Day.) I would hope for a post-misogynistic world for the sake of my daughter, but I don’t think we will see that in our lifetime. I think Clinton’s presidency will be riddled with obstacles. She will be constantly critiqued and torn apart within the media.

But I also think that women will watch this and become more empowered. They will see Hillary endure. This is important.

They will know that they are not alone and that even in the highest and most visible office a woman has to face the same types of misogynistic people they face day in and day out.

Jane Parker

Monterey County supervisor, District 4, Marina

Trump is vulgar and sexist, there’s no doubt about that. The fact that he was elected in spite of these character flaws is an opportunity for more honest conversation in America about our attitudes toward one another and what is needed to bring people together, simply because of how shocking he has been. We are uncovering some hidden attitudes that need to come into the open.

I also urge caution against thinking that everyone who voted for Trump embraces his mentality. There were a lot of other issues at play, and what motivated each voter could be broken up into a dozen categories, one of which is an anti-government sentiment in this country that needs to be turned around if we going to maintain a civil society.

Jocelyn Bridson

Farm consultant, Monterey

My daughter is very young and fortunately is not aware of the current political climate or the ignorant, misogynist and sexist remarks of President-elect Trump. Having come from a working-class family and being the first generation to attend college, I have overcome some obstacles to get where I am at in my own career. I will follow my parents’ example and do my best to raise my daughter to be informed of the inherent biases that may still exist in our society, work as hard as she can to attain her goals and take responsibility for her own future. Hopefully she will be judged by the content of her character rather than her sex, appearance, race or other physical attribute.

Mr. Trump needs to understand that his personal opinion officially takes a back seat to that of the country he now serves – including the half of voters that did not support him. I know that many of his own constituents also cringe at his comments and select policies, but because candidates are a package deal they supported him for a subset of policies he stands for. We have brushed off many of his comments as inconsequential thus far, but there could be real, dire consequences if he insults other world leaders or dismantles important international agreements as our president.

Jenny McAdams

Unsuccessful candidate for City Council, Pacific Grove

I never thought in my 40s the comments of “nasty woman”, “grab them by the pussy”, and “you can do anything you want with them [women]” would be words that would frequent my TV, internet, talk radio, social media accounts, and words my family and I would be exposed to for any length of time.

For me, while running as a political candidate, I have been asked questions like: “Is your husband supporting you?” “How are you going to be able to juggle it all?” “Are you crazy to take this on?” Yet a candidate who is male, has three children under age 6, is an attorney and is the sole financial provider of his household, is not questioned about his spouse’s support, financial pressure, sanity or time constraints. It is just assumed: He’s a man, he can handle it.

If anything, I think Trump’s racial and sexist comments have united and empowered woman, people with disabilities, the LGBT community, Hispanics and all of the other groups he has insulted to speak up and vote.

Jessica Neafsey

Landscape and clothing designer, Carmel

In the face of having elected an individual who appears to me like a fragile, desperate relic of a very old-fashioned patriarchy that freely and openly objectifies women as sex objects, now is the time to stop subtly or brashly objectifying ourselves, to joyfully embrace our beautiful complexities along the entire gender spectrum, to giddily relinquish the fear of being perceived as a “bad girl” or “nasty woman,” and use that language instead to support each other in an unprecedented new fearlessness, as we inevitably move into a future of greater and greater balance and equality.

Ana Melissa Garcia

Organic farmer and agricultural commodities manager, Salinas

I’m Mexican, I’m an immigrant and I came [to the U.S.] with my mom when she only had $500 in her pocket. I grew up having my mom always saying under her breath, “You can do anything you want, you don’t have to depend on a man,” but always at the same time saying, “Oh, that’s for your brother.” She paid for his college education, but she didn’t pay for mine; I paid for it myself. That’s how it’s always been in my family.

The day after the election, I was going to speak at ALBA (Agriculture & Land-Based Training Association). A lot of students called and said, “Is it OK if we come to school? We’re scared.” My speech about how ALBA helped me [become a grower at Blue Dog Organics] became something different, something about hope – that everything’s going to be OK. When I was in school there, it was really hopeful.

I feel that half of this country still cannot see a woman in power. That will trickle down. I’ve always seen it, and I have always had to prove myself. Why do I have to continue to prove myself?

Kelly Finlay

Junior at CSU Monterey Bay, Marina

Trump’s victory, which could not have been done without the 53 percent of white women who voted for him, is proof that there is no amount of disrespect to women extreme enough to matter, and that ultimately, we are still not important and we are still not considered whole.

Why did women vote for him in droves? Paradoxically, with casual sexism staring them in the face, women honestly believed we have achieved enough equality that casting a vote against it would have no effect. But it has affected us.