Other countries with arguably worse conditions for women in general have had (or do have) women leaders: Pakistan (Benazir Bhutto), India (Indira Ghandi), Chile (Michelle Bachelet), Israel (Golda Meir), Ireland (Mary Robinson), Nicaragua (Violeta Chamorro), The Philippines (Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo), etc. They have all been the standard white male landowners.Įngland has had several strong women as heads of state: Elizabeth I, Victoria, Elizabeth II and Margaret Thatcher. We broke away from the British monarchy and the concept that rulers are born.Īnd yet, with all our talk of equality, and all of our real opportunities for women that many countries don't have, we haven't yet had a woman as president (or even as governor of California, where I live). We have it in our Declaration of Independence: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.'(Back then, 'men' meant white male landowners, but by now it has evolved to mean all citizens of the United States, more or less.) I think it has more to do with a reluctance to accept that the United States has a ruling class.

Supposedly, her comments were taken as an affront to women who chose to stay home with children. Back when Bill Clinton was running for President, Hillary Rodham Clinton made the comment, 'You know, I suppose I could have stayed home and baked cookies and had teas, but what I decided to do was fulfill my profession, which I entered before my husband was in public life.' ( Source.) There was a media backlash and she was forced to bake cookies, claim that she had baked lots of cookies and poured tea a lot in the past.

Frog leap solution