Attitudes Towards Female Leaders

[deke]

Since Hillary Clinton is a full-fledged presidential candidate now, I've been thinking about American attitudes towards women holding America's highest office. Until really recently, it's been pretty much dead certain that a lot of the US was against having a female president. Now I am hearing a lot that a woman might not be so bad...as long as it'

Comments

[mandydax]

(American here). If you look at it that way, then the British PM's more appropriate analogue in the US is Speaker of the House. Speaker Pelosi is the first woman in that position, and is also now second after the VP if the President is removed from power outside an election.

[deke]

Good point. The main difference though is that the Speaker of the House or the Senate majority leader is not the one with his/her finger on The Button.

What I'm really trying to get at though is the prevailing attitude towards women in the upper echelons of power in Britain. I know we're making progress here in the US with Pelosi and Condoleeza Rice, but I don't for a moment believe that either one would be a truly viable presidential candidate in 2008 and it would take a "King Ralph"-style act of God to get them sitting in the Oval Office.

So my real question remains. Would Brits vote to give a woman that power if they could vote person rather than party?

[deke]

I agree that thinking gender matters as to how one can govern is silly, but that's always been the prevailing attitude in the US. I really like your point about the Queen having been around for most, if not all, of most Brits' lives and how that would affect cultural attitudes towards women in power. I hadn't really given much thought to the Queen in this context to be honest, as I figured she was pretty much a figurehead and no real power politically. Thanks for reminding me.

[mandydax]

Oh, I guess I hadn't really considered the psychology behind voting in that type of system. Good point. I think in our last elections, there was so much disapproval of the Republican President and the Republican Congress that as a country, we turned the Congress over to the opposing party in both the House and Senate. There was a lot of talk about how if the Democrats became majority in the House that Nancy Pelosi would be our first woman Speaker. The media were are over it. I got the distinct impression (although I try to avoid most political ads and news) that a great number of people in both parties thought that this would be a bad thing.

Unfortunately, I have the feeling that a lot of Americans would say that "We're ready for a woman President, just not her," whether she is Hilary Clinton or whoever is the strongest candidate. In 2000, Elizabeth Dole was running for the Republican Presidential candidacy, and even though I'm quite far left in my politics, listening to her talk about the issues, I would seriously have voted for

[deke]

HA! I love your icon!