In accepting her party’s nomination at the Democratic National Convention on Thursday evening, Vice President Kamala Harris spoke enthusiastically of a “new way forward,” about healing divisions, about moving past cynicism and bitterness. She spoke of her background as a prosecutor, about her “unlikely” personal journey and warned, once again, about the dangers inherent in returning Donald Trump to the White House. Even as scores of female delegates wore white in tribute to the suffrage movement, her speech paid less attention to how she stands to break this nation’s most glaring glass ceiling — its failure to elect a female head of state.

“I know there are people of various political views watching tonight, and I want you to know I promise to be a president for all Americans,” Harris reassured her fellow Democrats in Chicago.

The historic nature of the Democratic ticket is surely not lost on anyone. She is the first Black woman and person of South Asian descent to accept a major party’s nomination as president. But even as the Harris message of moving forward together draws cheers — not to mention a continuing barrage of racist and sexist reactions from Trump and his running mate, U.S. Sen. JD Vance — it’s fair to wonder whether U.S. voters are ready to elect a female president. This is not simply because they failed to do so when Hillary Clinton was the Democratic Party nominee in 2016, when she won the popular vote but lost the electoral vote to Trump. Any number of indicators, from opinion surveys to down-ballot election results, suggest the glass ceiling remains firmly in place.

Let’s start with the results of past elections. The presidency is far from the only office where women have not been welcomed. Just 12 of the 50 current U.S. governors are women. Maryland has only chosen men for that post. In the U.S. Senate, only 60 women have ever served (25 of 100 currently). State legislatures offer a similar story. Even in Maryland, one of the top 10 states for electing women to state office, men still hold the majority of seats in the General Assembly. Nationally, women hold about a third of those 2,426 posts, according to the Center for American Women and Politics.

One might argue that female candidates are simply catching up, and there is some truth to that. But it’s been a particularly slow slog given, for example, how Baltimore’s own Barbara Mikulski was hailed as a groundbreaker when she became the first Maryland woman elected to the U.S. Senate in 1986. How many have accomplished that feat since then? If Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks defeats former Gov. Larry Hogan on the November ballot, she will be the second. Maryland has never elected a female governor. Some counties have never elected a female county executive. In Wicomico County, County Executive Julie Giordano has been so at odds with her county council that there is a referendum on the November ballot calling for the elimination of her elected post.

And it’s not as if the private sector is performing much better in this regard. For all the talk of equity and inclusion, female CEOs remain a rare breed with just 10.6% of Fortune 500 companies led by women last year.

Most Americans claim they are ready for a female president. A recent Gallup poll found 93% would vote for a woman compared with 23% who said they’d be willing to vote for a convicted felon which certainly bodes poorly for the Republican nominee. Yet it is one thing to say you would support a woman (the same survey found a majority of voters claim to be willing to support someone who is gay or Muslim or atheist as well), it’s another to pull the lever when the opportunity arises. South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley’s treatment in the Republican primaries suggests sexism is alive and well within the GOP. For all the cheering in Chicago, for all the goodwill and record donations and even the blessings of President Joe Biden and former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, it remains to be seen whether Americans are as post-patriarchal as they claim.