Women in U.S. politics. When the country was first founded, this would have been unthought of. Politics in the U.S., a few hundred years ago was strictly the domain of men. Even though women were not running for office in this country in the early years, many women had run governments all over the world. One has just to look at the different Queens who were heads of state or even some of the powerful Queen mother's of Kings to know this. Look at the power of Cleopatra or Queen Victoria. They were surely women of strong will and also quite capable even though in the case of Cleopatra she was bucking a much more powerful foe, which was Rome and there was no way should could have emerged victorious.

Eleanor Roosevelt - Was she really the power behind Franklin Roosevelt?
Photo Source: NPS

A woman actually ran for president in this country in 1872, her name was Victoria Claflin Woodhull. She was the candidate of the National Radical Reformers Party. She didn't have much of a chance in those days and her reputation as a clairvoyant didn't help. She did have some famous people backing her at different times. One of them was Cornelius Vanderbilt. He was interested in spiritualism and backed her in a brokerage business. She married Colonel Blood and began publishing a weekly paper named Woodhull and Claflin's Weekly. The paper favored woman suffrage among other things such as socialism and free love. The first woman to run for vice president was Geraldine A. Ferraro, A Democrat from New York. She ran on the Mondale-Ferraro ticket in 1984. On a state level, Nellie Tayloe Ross became the nation's first governor when she was elected Governor of Wyoming in 1925 and lived to be 101 years old.

In 1866 Elizabeth Cady Stanton was the first woman to run for the U.S. House of Representatives. It is ironic that she couldn't vote herself at the time. She ran on the Independent ticket in New York. There were about 12,000 votes cast and she received 24 of them. The first woman elected to the Senate was Hattie Wyatt Caraway of Arkansas. Appointed to fill the vacancy caused by the death of her husband, Senator Thaddeus Caraway, Ms. Caraway then sought and won election on her own in 1932. She was reelected in 1938 and served until 1945. The first successful run for the House by a woman was made by Jeannette Rankin in 1917 when she was elected from Montana.

Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, President of Liberia
Photo Source: The White House

Can a women ever get elected president in the United States? I would like to answer that question this way. Africa is one of the most macho places on earth. In many places in Africa men are the undisputed heads of households and women are second class citizens. In this atmosphere, somehow, a woman was elected president of Liberia in December 2005. Ellen Johnson became that countries first female president. The idea of being beat by a woman in a runoff election upset her opposite number, a man, so much, that he refused to accept the defeat. Her opponent was a world class soccer player named George Weah. Apparently being beaten by a women was too much for his ego.

The amount of women running for state legislative offices is an incredible 2,534* for 2006, which includes governorships, lieutenant governorships and elected executive positions. This is a new record, surpassing the old record set in 1992. Is this going to be a trend felt all around the world? One has to remember that the U.S. is a little backward in the area of women leading their country. Civilized countries, like Britain, have had women leaders from time to time and seemed to have faired quite well. As more and more male politicians fall out of favor with the electorate, will women be called upon to fill the gap? Women are perceived as more nurturing and domestically orientated than men. Whether this is true or a misconception can only be proven by trial and error. Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister of Britain and was as tough as any man. Her sex made absolutely no difference in this vein.

Geraldine Ferraro - Former Vice-Presidential Candidate
Photo Source: National Archives and Records Division

When we talk about women having elected positions, the U.S. is in a pitiful position. They are 67** in the world with only 15.1% of the House seats being filled by women. When we look at the Nordic countries we can't help but notice their much higher number of elected women in their parliament. Sweden has 47.3% women, Finland 38% and Norway 37.9%, just to mention a few countries. We have a long way to go to get to full parity between women and men. The real question is, when all is said and done, will it make any difference, is the philosophy different between men and women or are party politics more the controlling force. I guess we have to look at the women in office now for that answer and decide for ourselves if there is really any difference in the view points of a Democratic or Republican woman verses a Democratic or Republican man. Politics does tend to bring out the worst in both men and women at times.

*Associated Press
**Inter-Parliamentary Union