Madame President

Hillary Clinton recently described what it would mean for America to elect its first female president and her hope to see this happen. She stopped short of recommending anyone.

I, too, would like to see this happen but I’m not optimistic. Any qualified woman from either party would be met with strong criticism.

Other countries in the world have had outstanding women leaders, i.e. Margaret Thatcher and Indira Gandhi. But in our country there is a strong bias against women in leadership positions. This is true in religion and the private sector as well as government.

A church I recently attended was assigned a lady minister. One quarter of its members immediately moved to another church. Female associate pastors seem to have greater acceptance in this supportive role.

Currently there are only eight U.S. women governors. The number of lady mayors has risen in recent years, but you won’t find many female bank presidents.

Women seem to fare better in education. A lot of female principals, superintendants and school board presidents are in place.

But the trend may be changing. The Federal Reserve Board, that august bastion of maleness, currently has a woman in the number two position – Janet Yellen. She and Larry Summers are the two most likely candidates to succeed Ben Bernanke as leader of the Fed when his second four-year term expires January 31. An economist, Summers has held several important positions, but he has never worked in the Fed. Many in the banking community believe Yellen has the edge. If she is chosen, we will have a female in the second most important job in the nation.

Perhaps now Americans can get past the attitude that “the little woman should stay in the kitchen and the nursery” and choose candidates based on qualifications not gender.