Is America ready for a woman president?

• Author: Wilson, Marie C.
• Position: National Affairs

IN 1984, women reached a milestone in this country when Geraldine Ferraro was chosen the first female to run on a major party ticket for vice president. She paved the way for others to come behind her, yet, two decades later, there has not been another woman on a major party ticket during a presidential election.

Is the country ready for a woman at the top of the ticket? If so, are there women in the political pipeline who are ready to run, or are females as far away as they were 20 years ago? To answer these questions, we need to look at the political process from the top down and the bottom up.

The obstacles to climbing the political ladder begin early for women and range from public perceptions of them as leaders to lack of party support. The real power brokers behind who runs for office and who doesn't are the officials of the Democratic and Republican parties. By and large, they determine which candidates will compete. When Elizabeth Dole, wife of former-Sen. Robert Dole (R.-Kan.), the 1996 Republican presidential candidate, ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 2000, she proved that without party support--financial and organizational--it is nearly impossible to become a viable national candidate. Dole dropped out of the race citing lack of money.

Certainly, the political parties in this country can do more than seek the women's vote. They can also acknowledge the value of women's voices and leadership by giving female candidates the support, visibility, and cash to run competitive campaigns for the presidency. Only this will make our country the inclusive democracy it promises to be.

We encourage other nations to build democracies based on American values, but how does the U.S. match up against other countries? It ranks 52nd out of 179 countries--tied with Slovakia--in the percentage of women serving in the lower houses of national legislatures and parliaments.

Of the more than 12,000 people who have served in Congress since our nation's founding, less than two percent have been women. Similarly, of the nearly 600 who have served in a president's cabinet, a mere 29 have been women--and the majority of those were appointed by the two most-recent administrations, admittedly a positive sign. As we move to get more women into political leadership positions, we can't forget that the underlying reason is not simply gender. Instead, it is about achieving a true democracy where everyone is represented.

Today, many tout the record number of women in Congress as a success, but women still represent just 14% of the House and 13% of the Senate. Five of the nation's current governors are females--also, ironically, a record high--and 14 of the mayors of the largest 100 U.S. cities are women.

The numbers keep improving, though. In 1992, for example...