India, Pakistan, Israel, England, New Zealand, Indonesia, Latvia and Finland have all done it once. The Phillippines, Sri Lanka, Ireland and Bangladesh have each done it twice. Germany and Liberia just did it. Chile is poised to become the first to do it in the Americas. Will the US elect the first woman national leader in 2008?
Hillary Clinton and Condoleeza Rice have each been touted by their respective parties as the next president of the United States. There is speculation that after Bush – Cheney – Rumsfeld, the country will be so tired of war and an over-abundance of testosterone in its politics, that we will be ready for the gentler regime of a woman leader. I would like to see a woman president – but not for those flawed reasons and unrealistic expectations. We should judge a woman by the same criteria we apply to male candidates and elect her for the same reasons – whether her policies are likely to be good of the country and the world. All other Mars – Venus hypotheses are wrong and bound to disappoint, unless the assessment of potential leaders is firmly grounded on Earth. It is naive to think that a female politician brings the mythical "woman’s touch" to leadership, something that is inherently different from what a man brings to the table. Successful women in business and in public life, as of now, compete on the same playing field as men and operate by the same rules, although they do help in revising gender based preconceptions of competence and capability – mostly in the minds of men. The women leaders named above gained their political power because of hard work, shrewdness, personal ambition and even ruthlessness (in the case of some of the Asian women leaders, their family backgrounds helped). Many fought their share of bloody wars.
An intelligent, honest and competent leader – man or woman, brings those qualities to his/her policies and vision, irrespective of gender. A corrupt and stupid woman leader is capable of wreaking the same havoc as a similarly unqualified or unsuitable male. It is not realistic therefore to expect women to change politics and governance for the better just by virtue of their womanhood – an astute mind, the right moral philosophy and courage of conviction will accomplish that. The election of a woman to the highest office has one unique beneficial fallout. It frees up a nation’s mindset from the historical inaccuracy of equating maleness with competent leadership and femaleness with a lack of bold and innovative ideas. For this reason alone, it will be refreshing to have the 2008 roster of US presidential candidates populated with feminine names.
It is a bit unnerving that we are even having this debate in the 21st century. In the last one hundred years or so, women have burst through several previously closed doors with impressive aplomb. They have emphatically proven wrong thousands of years of inequitable, discriminatory practices and prejudicial notions. That we would need a TV show (Madam President), or a disastrous male president to prep us for a female presidency in 2008 is silly and condescending – and if true, disappointing.
Even Japan’s traditional imperial household has seen the light.
A panel on Japan’s imperial succession formally recommended Thursday that women be allowed to ascend the ancient Chrysanthemum Throne, a change that could spare the royal family a looming succession crisis.
Japan’s imperial family hasn’t produced a male heir for 40 years and Crown Prince Naruhito and Crown Princess Masako’s only child is a girl, 3-year-old Aiko.
If approved by parliament, the revision is expected to make Aiko second in line to the throne, behind her father.
"This would be a new experience for the Japanese," said Hiroyuki Yoshikawa, the head of the 10-member panel.
He said that the proposal was intended to allow Aiko to ascend the throne even if Naruhito and Masako had a boy.
Strict male succession has been possible only through the use of concubines, a practice that ended during the reign of Emperor Hirohito, who died in 1989 and is father of the current emperor, Akihito.
Opinion polls have indicated wide support for a ruling empress, but some conservative academics and lawmakers have voiced opposition.
But elevating a few women to positions of power would not amount to much of anything if the following report by the WHO about violence against women is accurate and if the plight of women and girls in poorer societies does not improve dramatically.
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