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.