In the fall of 2005, the network channel ABC aired the first episodes of its new drama series "Commander in Chief," with Geena Davis playing the first female President of the United States.

In the wake of the show's premiere, speculation about the possibility of a woman president resurfaced. This speculation continues as the presidential campaign season 2008 is heating up. Will Senator Hillary Clinton vie for the Democratic nomination? Or perhaps Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will put her name forward to be the Republican nominee? Rather than speculate about names, a more pertinent question to ask is whether the United States is ready to vote for a woman to hold the highest office in the nation.

According to Voices-Unabridged: The E-Magazine on Women and Human Righs Worldwide (http://www.voices-unabridged.org/index.php?numero=8 ), there are currently 12 female heads of state and of government, including such unlikely nations as Chile and Liberia. Linda Basch, Executive Director of the National Council for Research on Women, surmises that these elections look like they could be the start of a larger movement. "I think it's an important trend," she says, "[these elections] become role modeling not only for their regions but for the world." And of course, there are examples from history of women like Margaret Thatcher, Indira Gandhi, and Golda Meir, who led their nations in critical times. Furthermore, countries like Sri Lanka and Bangladesh have also had female leaders for many years.

In their Internet news promoting "Commander in Chief," ABC cited a May 2005 Gallup poll, which indicated that 72% of Americans would be likely to vote for a woman. But how likely would they be to vote for a woman for President? To quote Geena Davis promoting her show, "America is 61st in female representation in government so there's obviously something in Americans that is resistant to this idea." As of 2006 there are 14 women in the United States Senate (14 % out of 200) and 67 women in the House of Representatives (15.4 % out of 435). Women thus represent 15.1% of the congressional seats-not a highly favorable percentage for a nation that prides itself in its liberties and equal opportunities for all. And a number that does not bode too well for a woman presidential candidate.

For the sake of comparison, let's look at the top five nations in female parlimentary representation, as listed by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPA) in 2005 . It probably does not come as a great surprise to Finns that the Scandinavian nations are among these top five. Sweden is in second place with 45.3%, followed by Norway with 37.9%; Finland holds fourth place with 37.5% and Denmark is number five with 36.9%. And what nation is number One in female representation? It is Rwanda where a whopping 48.8% of parliamentary representatives are women!

There are historical precedents for women running for the highest office in the United States. The first woman to run for president was Victoria Woodhull in 1872, at a time when American women did not yet have the right to vote in national elections; as a matter of fact, only one territory-Wyoming-allowed women to vote at all. That same year, suffrage leader Susan B. Anthony, together with 15 other women, was arrested, tried, and convicted for voting illegally. She was fined $100 which she refused to pay. Other examples of women vying for the presidency include Carol Moseley Braun in 2004, on the presidential ballot in 20 states, and Elizabeth Dole in the Republican presidential primaries in 2000. And in 1984 the Democratic nominee Walter Mondale chose a woman, Gerardine Ferraro, as his running mate.

So, to return to the original question of whether Americans are ready to elect a woman to run the country, I am inclined to go with the negative answer. Although portraying a progressive self-image to the world, much of America is socially very conservative. This is a nation where people believe in "traditional" values: God, country, family. The family implies the husband providing for material welfare and taking care of public affairs whilethe wife takes care of the kids. And perhaps that is what is really at issue! Perhaps it is that Americans are ready to handle a woman president, but they just don'tknow what to do with her husband relegated to the secondary role of the "First Husband."


Text: Päivi Hoikkala
Photo: Ulla Maria Hoikkala