Harris: ‘Don’t let anyone put you in a box because of your gender’

Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), who is set to become the first female vice president, calls on people not to “let anyone put you in a box because of your gender,” in a new interview. 

Asked by “Good Morning America” anchor Robin Roberts about her and her husband shattering gender norms in their future roles, Harris said she believes that “we are, I think, advancing as a society with each one of these moments.”

“It says to everyone: Don’t let anyone put you in a box because of your gender, and I think that’s important,” Harris said in the interview released Wednesday.

EXCLUSIVE: Kamala Harris to @robinroberts: “We still have so much work to do to remind our children of every gender that they should not be confined by the limited perception that some might have of who they are and what they can be.” https://t.co/lOB7BgMxFv pic.twitter.com/0jr1YhfHKD

— Good Morning America (@GMA) December 16, 2020

Harris said that her husband, Doug Emhoff, is “very excited” about his new role as the first second gentleman in U.S. history. She said he is “proud” to be the father of both a son and daughter, and she joked that he has a much-loved sweatshirt that says “girl dad.”

“He’s aware that we still have so much work to do to remind our children, of every gender, that they should not be confined by the limited perception that some might have of who they are and what they can be,” Harris said.

Emhoff has two children, Cole and Ella, who refer to their step-mother with the nickname “Momala.” 

When asked what she will be thinking about in January when she is sworn in as vice president, Harris responded her mother.

“I feel a very big sense of responsibility, as I said recently, that I will be the first, but I will not be the last. I was raised by my mother, who said that many times ‘Kamala, you may be the first to do many things. Make sure you’re not the last.’ That’s how I feel about this moment,” she said.

Harris said something similar during her first address to the nation as vice president-elect, vowing that “While I may be the first woman in this office, I will not be the last, because every little girl watching tonight sees that this is a country of possibilities.” 

“I’m thinking of [my mother] and the generations of Black women, Asian, white, Latina, Native American women who throughout our nation’s history have paved the way for this moment tonight,” she said in the speech last month.