By Mary Granath September 22, 2008
These days there are women in all sorts of occupations that our suffragette ancestors never would have imagined. Women are doctors, scientists, and soldiers; women pastors, firefighters, and lawyers. So why is it that women haven’t been able to reach the White House as President?
It is true that in the previous few decades women have made more advancements, especially in politics, than in the centuries before that. Sandra Day O’Connor was appointed as the first female Supreme Court justice by President Reagan in 1981, Madeleine Albright served as the first woman Secretary of State under President Clinton, and Condoleezza Rice followed in her footsteps in the Bush administration. Even more recently former first lady Hilary Clinton campaigned in the Democratic Presidential primary but fell just short of the nomination. Now that McCain has chosen Alaska’s Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate, a woman is merely inches from Washington. Is the world ready for this?
When asked, Lowry students and faculty mostly agreed that who becomes President should depend on the candidate’s politics. However, more of America seems to focus more on race and gender.
David Eastman, a junior at Lowry, stated “I don’t think gender matters. A woman would do just as good as a man.”
Vice Principal Byron Jeppsen agreed that a woman could be president “If she were the best candidate.”
Career Technology teacher Lisa Scott said that if a woman candidate were capable then she could be elected.
Why is it that Hilary Clinton did not win the Democratic bid? Was it sexism, or was it perhaps people’s lack of faith in her capability? Some people still believe that gender is an issue such as Career Tech. teacher Ron Espinola.
“Gender shouldn’t be an issue but it is. Half of our population is women; odds are we should have had a women president by now,” said Espinola. “If people were blind to race and gender we would have a proportional representation among elected offices.”
But as we all know that isn’t how our history looks. All presidents have been white, male, and Christian. Is the time coming when a woman or possibly an African-American will be our president? Only time will tell.
