It's interesting to note that there have been countries that you would not have thought would have had a female head of state have already had a president. Indonesia is one that comes to mind and yet having had 43 presidents well 44 once you count Obama, America has yet to have a woman in office. Like I said in the other civil rights topic, I initially thought that it would be more likely to have a woman in office first before an African-American in office. This had nothing to do with me wanting a woman in office because I certainly would love to see that. I just felt that electing a black American would be a greater hurdle than that of a woman.
Looking at the Women's Sufferage Movement of the early 20th century woman were denied the right to vote so it is perhaps not surprising that we haven't seen a woman in the running for president. It wasn't until 1920 that women in America were granted the right to vote. I'm sure that there are still people out there who would tell you that the woman's place is in the home being a mother and doing the housework and all the cooking (and if any guy said that it would earn them a nice black eye from me :p ). When Megawati Sukarnoputri was elected president of Indonesia or about to be elected I don't remember there was an article titled 'It's No Job for a Woman' needless to say I was not impressed by that article in suggesting that women aren't capable of leading a country.
It probably is a bit optimistic that a woman would be elected in the 2012 election, but having said that I would at least like to see a woman at least in the running it would also be nice to see her with a female running mate although that might be even more far fetched that the idea of a female president. A more realistic target would probably be about 2016, but that doesn't mean that it won't happen in 2012 I mean 4 years is a long time.
A good choice for a first female president? Well I guess Hilary Clinton would be an obvious choice. Nancy Pelosi the current Speaker of the House of Representatives would probably be another choice given that she is currently 2nd in the presidential line of succession after Cheney making her the higest ranked woman in US politics. I've not heard much about Pelosi, as a politician, but it would be fair to say that there is a possibility of her being a candidite.
Seriously though... I don't know if and when the US will be ready for a woman... it's taken 50 years for colour to no longer be an issue. And the fact is, you don't want someone elected just because she is a woman. You want her elected because she is the best PERSON for the job.
Good point even if that were the case the main point that would make the news is that she is female and not the fact that she is the best person for job. I suspect that there will be feminists out there who would vote for a female simply because she's female.
