The Rising Tide of Women's Leadership.

• Author: WILSON, MARIE C.

PARENTS worried that their daughters may not have the same opportunities as their sons can breathe a little easier. Kaitlin Ofman, 10, told The New York Times in the spring of 1999 that, "if by the time ... I'm maybe 30 or so, I don't see a woman president, then I think I'm going to probably try to run myself. I mean, maybe I'll start small, go to senator, and then this, and then that, and then president."

This ambition illustrates both the promise and evolution of women's leadership in the U.S. While more than 20 other countries have been led by female presidents or prime ministers, the U.S. ranks 40th in the world in women elected to national office. Nevertheless, young girls believe that the presidency is well within reach. Moreover, this story reveals a shift in the country's attitudes toward women in public office. While much public and media attention has centered on Elizabeth Dole and Hillary Clinton, there is a much bigger story to be told. The American political climate is slowly warming to female candidates at all levels of elective office.

This change is evident in public opinion surveys conducted over the past few years. Research by The White House Project has shown that 76% of Americans would like to vote for women for president. This stands in sharp contrast to earlier decades. In the mid 1930s, a Gallup Poll found that 33% of Americans felt this way. While Elizabeth Dole dropped out of the 2000 presidential race before the primaries, she extended the boundaries for female presidential candidates. By finishing third in the 1999 Iowa Straw Poll--ahead of former Vice Pres. Dan Quayle and former Secretary of Education Lamar Alexander--she proved women can launch viable presidential campaigns. Moreover, her candidacy attracted many women who had not previously been active in the presidential electoral process.

The public's changing attitudes toward female candidates is not limited to its willingness to vote for a woman for president. In fact, the leadership qualities that women have developed in the margins are now central to the kind of leadership Americans are looking for. According to a study by the Center for the American Woman in Politics at Rutgers University, female officeholders are more likely than are their male counterparts to bring citizens into the governing process by seeking their views on legislation. Women officeholders are also more likely to be responsive to groups previously denied access to the policymaking process, such as lower-income Americans.

Perhaps not coincidentally, a March, 1999, survey by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation found that the public's views on leadership are undergoing a marked transition. The public sees leadership as centered on motivating and bringing people together, rather than on control and power. The same survey showed that 45% of Americans think future leaders will come from...