'The ceiling isn't just glass': Women in politics reflect on Hillary's loss
Many had hoped Hillary Clinton would become first female president
Many hoped Senator Hillary Clinton would break the political glass ceiling last night and become the first woman president of the United States.
Her election night party was even planned at the glass-ceilinged Jacob K. Javits convention centre in New York.
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Instead, for her American and international supporters, it was a crushing loss. The streak of 235 years of male presidential power continues.
Canada's Green Party leader Elizabeth May said the loss was particularly painful.
"I'm very upset," she said. "The ceiling isn't just glass."
She said the loss was even more bitter because of the character of her opponent.
"Almost half the population was willing to vote for someone who has been flagrantly misogynistic in his comments," she said.
This is a deeply dangerous time.- Green Party leader and MP Elizabeth May
"If she had lost to someone like our current Prime Minister who proclaims himself, as a man, to be a strong feminist, that would be one thing ... what [does] this says about the acceptability to flagrant sexism?"
Libby Davies, a former NDP MP and Vancouver city councillor, described the attacks on Clinton throughout the campaign as appalling and horrifying.
"I don't think in my political life I've ever seen such sustained, unrelenting vicious attacks on her as a woman and what that represents," she said.
She pointed out it didn't matter what Trump said, people voted for him anyway.
"If a woman had done any one of the things he had done, she would have been out," she said. "It would not have been tolerated, yet he seemed to get away with everything and it didn't seem to matter to people — that's what I find really hard to get through my brain."
As for what this means for the future of women in politics, May said it's apparent the problem is deeper than the gender gap. Racism and economic inequity are equally huge issues.
"This is what happened in pre-war Germany, when you see people being disenfranchised, and a charismatic voice arrives that says it's not your fault, it's the fault of that other person. This is a deeply dangerous time."
With files from The Early Edition
To listen to the interview, click on the link labelled B.C. women in politics react to Hillary's loss