The media blew it. I find myself saying this with some semblance of validation, since I work for an independent, local newspaper. Let me explain: the media hasn’t adequately covered Elizabeth Warren in over two months and frankly, she didn’t receive the attention, conversation, or respect that she deserved. Classic. Over the last two months, Warren has been erased from podcast conversations, newspaper articles, and broadcast news country wide.

According to Warren’s campaign, "The night of the Iowa caucuses, CNN didn’t air Elizabeth’s full speech. But they aired the speeches of other candidates she beat. In New Hampshire, some networks played Vice President Biden’s speech despite the fact that he left the state before polls closed — but not Elizabeth’s even though she outperformed him, again. After the Nevada caucuses, CNN and MSNBC cut away in the middle of Elizabeth speaking."

During the Super Tuesday vote on March 3, she was the youngest in the race (at a ripe age of 70), incredibly qualified, smart, and articulate, and would have undeniably been a great president, leader, diplomat, change maker, and unifier. Despite the media discounting her legitimacy in the race, she proudly got my vote. Knowing that she was behind in the polls and not considered a threat to Joe Biden or Bernie Sanders, I voted with my heart and with pragmatic activism in mind: this is the president I want in office.

Let me cut to the chase: It's aggravating to see women continuously denied equal opportunity in this country. Even though it isn't always blatant misogyny, and even though there are laws that declare equality of the sexes, it's very apparent that women are not as socially respected or taken as seriously as their male counterparts. Elizabeth isn't everyone's cup of tea, and that's fine. But if her airtime and news coverage was anything like Biden, Pete, or Bernie’s has been, where would she be?

As a young journalist, this question infuriates me. I can’t help but think about the writer I want to be — un-biased, fact-based, un-leading. Isn’t it bias to erase an entire candidate from the conversation? Isn’t it leading to assume Warren had no chance?

As a journalist, I want to unendingly call out the fact that women are not treated as equal beings around the world. Not because I necessarily want to lead the masses towards a feminist agenda, but because it’s simply true. Women have been discounted, disrespected, and discouraged from participating since the beginning of history. Yet our country now says we’re equal, based mainly around the following: women’s suffrage (1920), the Equal Rights Amendment (which has only been ratified by 37 of the 50 states), and Roe vs Wade (1973). All of these legislative amendments, court decisions and bills have lawfully ensured equal opportunities for women, the vote for women, and ensured bodily autonomy for women.

Yet, where are we really? How many United States presidents have been women? Zero. How many United States vice presidents have been women? Zero. How many Fortune 500 CEOs are currently women? 33. How many women on Wall Street have been CEO? Zero.

Like many millennial little girls, I grew up being told, “You can be anything you want to be, you can do anything you want to do. All it takes is hard work.” Legally, this is apparently true. But is this culturally true? Can I ever really climb the patriarchal ladder, hurdle through business meetings and after-hour bars I won’t be invited to? Can I really, truly be anything I want to? I can tell you this: not while we keep deleting women from the conversation.

There is currently a record number of women in Congress right now, yet they still only make up 23.2% of the number of seats. There are more women than men in higher education, yet in 2016 The Harvard Business Review said that there were more CEOs named John than there were CEOs who were women. Regardless of how many women are entering the work force with head held high and chest puffed out, their climb is undoubtably steeper and rockier than their male counterparts whose test scores they may have beat out at University.

So now I ask the question, ok Mr. President Nominee, who will your female vice president be? You won again, you secured the greatest number of delegates and persuaded the media and country that you are the most qualified, fair, and capable candidate. Your voice was described as strong, your appearance wasn’t a topic of conversation, and your ideas were credited as your own. When you took the debate stage, people heard your loudness as leadership. Thankfully, you didn’t come across as bossy, shrill, or eccentric, what a relief. Congratulations, what a feat!

Ok Mr. President Nominee, who will your female VP be?