OK, this is just a start, cause I am slammed busy today, but here is a topic that I find interesting, yet I know actually very little about. Women in politics.
The idea for this thread is from the TT article today (a NY Times piece) See India’s women in Power google.com/url?sa=X&oi=news& … r%3DGOOGLE
about the women in Indian politics and despite a few key persons (including Indira Ghandi) women are not given a fair share of power in India. Due in part to traditional Hindu beliefs and party politics. Anyway, got me thinking…
Why is it that a country like the US-has yet to really have a woman in power. Probably the most powerful woman to date was Madeline Albright… with Condaleeza running a close second. Yet, women have been in power in other countries…England had Maggie (for better or worse) and of course Betsy (but she was not elected into power) India had Indira Gandhi , Indonesia and Pakastan both Islamic states have (had) female leaders with Megawati Sukarnoputri and
Benazir Bhutto. Finland has President Tarja Halonen, New Zeland has had 2 female PMs Jenny Shipley and Helen Clark; the list continues… but WHY has there not been a serious female contender for the US?
I think Hiliary will run-probably 2008- but Gerry Ferraro was considered an also ran and not a serious contender for VP… So… why is this.
Any comments? Like I say, interesting to me but I really have no idea why this has been the case…
Yep the UK had a woman head of state and a woman head of government :shock:
Margaret Beckett was interim leader of the Labour Party before Tony Blair was elected.
Ireland has had a couple of woman presidents.
Not forgetting Benazir Bhutto, the PM of a Muslim country.
probably for the same reason you wouldn’t see a minority president…
the average american probably wouldn’t want a woman or a minority to lead them. many people, women included, i’ve heard been openly disdainful of the idea of voting for a woman into the presidency. of course this is entirely not considering whether such a person might be qualified.
many americans typically don’t think a woman is “strong” enough to lead their country.
what do you call the first Lady if he’s a man when the women is president?
I think that you are wrong about minorities and women. Many many people would vote for Hillary Clinton if she were to run. Yikes! My Worst Nightmare. And the Republicans would have chosen Colin Powell to run for president in a NY minute and still would. He decided not to.
Canada had a female PM for a very brief period when she took over the Progressive Conservative party from Brian Mulroney in the 80s. She lost by a landslide in the following election though. She isn’t remembered too fondly by the Tories…
why hasn’t the US had a “legit” female presidential candidate? serious candidates are put forward by the two parties. the parties have never seen fit to nominate a woman. if one was electable and better than any male i hope they would put her forward.
if i am not mistaken, more women than men participate in the popular vote. it seems it is just a matter of time.
compile a short list of females who could contend: rodham-clinton, carol mosley braun (il), elizabeth dole (red cross) and uh…oprah? it would seem the hope for this generation would be hilary.
We should add Christine Todd Whitman should be on the list as should Barbara Boxer, Dianne Feinstein, perhaps even Caroline Kennedy should through her hat into the ring… she is just a qualified as her brother John Jr. was and everyone had him pegged for a run in 2012 or so…
I am sure some of the Women who are currently serving in the house or as state elected officials are equally qualified to run as some of the men who through in their hat… I mean, remember Tsongas?
Is it that Women are just not equally represented in politics, so the pool is smaller> or is it that women are still not seen as powerful enough… would they be able to pull the trigger… so to speak… declare war if necessary- is it that society still sees women as the mother figure and therefore caring and helpful, rather than as the father figure–tough and hard working? Hells bells, in my house I would have much rather gotten in trouble with my father who was the easier guy than my mother who was/is hell on wheels when she is mad!
[quote]With vanity always in fashion and shoes reaching iconic cultural status, women are having parts of their toes lopped off to fit into the latest Manolo Blahniks or Jimmy Choos. Cheerful how-to stories about these operations have appeared in women’s magazines and major newspapers and on television news programs.
I do not believe that any barriers exist to women reaching high office in the US. We have a number of senators and governors in the US. As to president, well the day that the US has someone like Margaret Thatcher, there need be no discussion about whether someone is a woman or not but how well they can do the job. That will be a good day. Ditto for the day we get a Black president because he would be a good president not because he is Black. Also, while this discussion is interesting, remember that you have to be careful as to how you argue it. If a bunch of white men were sitting around here arguing about how the first consideration for electing someone or appointing to someone to a job or not was because he was first and foremost a white male, can you imagine the outrage that would accompany it?
Fred Smith, the problem I have with your statement is that I don’t think George W. Bush would have stood out to me as being the most qualified politician in the US, yet he was elected president. It seems qualification doesn’t even really register on the list of requirements for who becomes president (aside from having political experience). Good PR and connections do.
There is a number of very qualified women leaders out there, but there seems to be very little outlet for them to be seen as real contenders for presidency. Those who put themselves out there tend to get cut down, ridiculed, or have chauvinistic comments made about them (e.g. the article in the NY Times mentioned earlier) which have nothing to do with being qualified to run for president. Do you think Braun or Clinton are shallow enough to mutilate themselves for vanity’s sake? Some men put their penises into vacuum pumps to make themselves seem bigger…doesn’t mean that none of them are qualified to run for office. As much as the US has seemed to progress in equality as far as gender and race go, in reality a lot of it seems to have just been pushed underground. People still have their ideas and stereotypes in their heads; they just don’t say them in public because it’s not correct. When America gets over worshipping and envying rich white men, then maybe we will see more diversity in the political infrastructure. Until then, we will continue to hear jokes about Hillary having bigger balls than her husband because she has an opinion or that Janet Reno is a man in drag because she’s not built like a supermodel and the chance of any of them having any real power being treated like some badly written joke.
Can you imagine all the bullshit cracks about PMS, bitching, nagging, breaking a nail, cutting off toes to fit into a pair of Pradas, etc. being made if we ever had a female president?
Aw, shucks, Tigerman…I forgive you. I understand you were not making a comment on potential female presidential candidates, but I suspect there are men out there who would use such an article as an argument for why women shouldn’t be world leaders without considering the fact that no person in her right mind would do such a thing to herself.
[quote=“ImaniOU”] Some men put their penises into vacuum pumps to make themselves seem bigger…doesn’t mean that none of them are qualified to run for office. Can you imagine all the bullshit cracks about PMS, bitching, nagging, breaking a nail, cutting off toes to fit into a pair of Pradas, etc. being made if we ever had a female president?
[/quote]
Those are entirely different things entirely. PMS is a real medical condition that infects judgement. Women should probably be releived of command on those “special” days once a month. Women also have more mood swings than men as anyone who has ever had a psychoxioajie girlfriend knows. Being president means making cold logical decisions that women just are too emotional and not enough rational to make.
Plus what if she gets pregnant in office. That’s something to deal with. She’d have to take time off for maternity leave and is that covered in the Constitution. No. We can’t have our nation led in the boat rubberless. So just on that alone woman should not be president. Plus all the issues Iamaniou raised in her post about how women are too obsesed with fashion and losing weight all the time that how can you except them to pay as close attention to men to politics.
As usual Fred Smith is completely right on in this issue and I agree with everything he says.
