NEW YORK (1010 WINS/WCBS 880) -- Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff, the Brooklyn-born husband of vice president Kamala Harris, spoke about gender equity and the the responsibility of the couple's historic roles, during the first day of the two-day Global Citizen NOW summit in Tribeca Wednesday.
"Look, I'm the first man to ever be in this role, married to the first woman ever to be vice president," Emhoff, 59, who grew up in Matawan and Old Bridge Township, New Jersey, told moderator Errin Haines, at Spring Studios. "I had a very satisfying career as an entertainment lawyer in Hollywood -- great training to be Second Gentleman by the way! And I really loved it."
"I miss it," he explained, "but I took a step back from that gladly and without bitterness, without saltiness, to make sure that I could support the first woman in that role. And then you realize you have one of these microphones -- you've got to be responsible how you use it."
Emhoff, who has been married to Harris since 2014, said of his role, "You have no choice but to speak up and speak out and talk about these issues that we know are not fair ... childcare, family leave, reproductive freedom."
Emhoff, who has children Cole and Ella from his previous marriage, also spoke about the notion of "breaking glass ceilings," saying it's not as simplistic as some think.
"A lot of people think breaking barriers means you just start from here, la dee da, and then all of a sudden you get to where you got to," he said. "And I've heard Kamala talk about this too, where when you break barriers, it means breaking."
He further explained, "When when you break things, sometimes you get cut and when you get cut, sometimes you bleed. But I know Kamala Harris would say this ... it's worth it, it's worth doing it. To be able to be in those positions, to be able to set an example. So when I say more Kamala Harrises, I want more of you two (addressing moderator Errin Haines and fellow panelist country singer Mickey Guyton) as well, because we need more women in positions of power."
"We need more women in leadership -- not just in government ... but we need more women in business leadership, more women in military leadership, you name it," Emhoff continued. "We need more and it's that some guy is going to miss out. It's not an either or -- and some people think that way, like it's binary. It's not. It's good for everyone. So when you lift up women and you lift up the economy when women succeed, we all succeed."