Will a Female Ever Be Elected President of the United States? You Betcha!

Compare these quotes from the 2008 Presidential Election

Quote #1
“There is a quality of playing the embattled, beleaguered victim that I find unappealing and depressing.”

Quote #2
"When it comes to the real work of crafting policy, she's often not there," .... "I don't know if she's disinterested in details or not comfortable with them, but the bottom line is: She is not truly a hands-on governor."

Both quotes are negatively describing two of the major candidates from the 2008 election. Quote #1 immediately followed a section of text where Hillary Clinton mentioned going on the attack after her Iowa Caucus loss to then Senator Barack Obama. If it was her husband or any other man that went on the attack, would they have been described as a victim? Quote #2 described then Governor Sarah Palin's visionary leadership style; a style that is shared by many male Presidents such as Franklin Roosevelt, John Kennedy and Ronald Reagan. Were they described as "not comfortable with details" or nor "not hands-on?"

Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin both came very close to be elected in 2008, but were the odds stacked against them prior to their runs for national office? Women have been elected as leaders in many countries around the globe, including Margaret Thatcher (United Kingdom), Corazon Aquino (Philippians), Indira Gandhi (India) Yulia Tymoshenko (Ukraine), Golda Meir (Israel) and Angela Merkel (Germany). An article from Barbara Palmer attempts to tackle the question of if a female president ever happen in the United States. The main idea in the article was that American exceptionalism and our desire for a leader with a military background. This argument doesn't explain the whole story, because all of the previously mentioned female leaders rose to power in countries with a strong military. Palmer shows the results of a poll that shows that 40% of Americans do not think the country is ready for a female president. That leaves only 60% to pull from for a winning coalition in a national election, a major initial hole for a female presidential candidate to climb from for victory.

However, over 90% of Americans said they would vote for a female for president. The odds are likely that a female president one day will be selected as president; six females are currently serving as state governors and two recent female governors are currently serving as members of President Obama's cabinet. Hillary Clinton is currently Secretary of State, the third female in recent history to serve in the highest cabinet post. Sarah Palin and Congresswoman Michelle Bachman are both considered potential candidates for the Republican nomination in the next presidential election. The key is that for women to be elected, they have to display strong leadership qualities. Traditionally, these qualities have been associated with strong male gender roles. Once Americans choose to look past traditional gender roles and a strong female candidate emerges, it will not be a question of will a female president be elected, it's a matter of when.

Not of Words but of Deeds

I was in probably my third or fourth year of teaching agriculture at South Granville when one one of my students asked me the following string of questions "Why do you spend so much time with us potting plants? You are the teacher aren't you? Shouldn't you just be telling us what to do?" At the time, I just kind of shrugged it off at the time with a response of "It has to be done," but upon further reflection, it was my belief in doing the right thing which as a leadership concept is referred to as authenticity.

According to Weber (2010), authenticity is "the consistency between what you value and how you act" (p. 166). He proceeds to offer an example of a leader who advocates for gender equality but only appoints men in senior leadership positions as being very inauthentic. If that leader is aware, they can suffer from many personal problems such as disappointment or regret. In my example in the first paragraph, I have the personal belief that all people should put in effort when the job needs to be done. It is only authentic if we do what we say when we are in leadership roles.

As a agricultural teacher educator in training, I truly understand sharing the importance of the concept of authenticity with all of my teachers, whether they are in their first year or thirtieth year in the classroom. As agricultural teachers, we are expected to share with our students the FFA Creed. At the beginning of the creed, E.M Tiffany writes "I believe in the future of agriculture, with a faith born not of words but of deeds." In my situation with my former student, I was showing them with my deeds how to operate a business, not telling them with my words. My actions were counter intuitive to their previous belief of their role of a classroom teacher. To be authentic as a leader, you can't be afraid to get your hands dirty.