Will the US have a Women President?
Posted in Political Viewpoints on July 31st, 2006Will the US have a Women President?
One hundred years ago, the idea of a woman becoming president of the United States was unthinkable. Unable to vote, and expected to do little more than raise children and keep a tidy house, women were far removed from the political process. However, the 20th century saw a tidal wave of change for the involvement of women in the work force, particularly in government jobs and other positions of power. Recent studies have even shown that many more women than men show interest in US politics and security and are in fact much more likely to take up arms to defend our country. And in a time when college enrollment of women, at 70%, exceeds that of men, we are left to wonder, why have women become so eager for knowledge and power and what does it mean for the future of the United States?
While the position of women in today’s world has changed a great deal in the past century, the world itself is also a very different place. In less than one hundred years, the US has been involved in two World Wars, wars in Korea, Vietnam, and now Iraq. Today, the US stands as the world’s greatest superpower, and world stability has very much become an American affair. In practice, this means that American soldiers are forever fighting and forever on the move from one area of crisis to the next. Consequently, America’s mothers are often in a regular state of anxiety, worried both for their children’s safety and their country’s security. Modern controversy in politics is often concerned with were our troops will be sent next and how this will affect national security at home. Women today are thus more concerned with politics because the protection of their children has become a political matter.
With maternal instincts and an innate love of peace and security, women are quickly becoming political advocates in an effort to maintain world stability. In an uncertain climate, it is easy for a loving mother to become a single issue voter; the need to keep her children safe may be so important that it dominates a woman’s political agenda. And the involvement does not stop with voting. With America increasingly playing to role of “mother” to the rest of world, women are instinctively eager to join in the effort. Women will even offer to take up arms if it means fighting for a safer world, and moreover, a better place in which to raise their children. I believe young women are more politically interested than men because women feel they have more at stake personally and stand to lose a great deal if the politics does not swing in their favor. Indeed, the happiness and security of their families has come to depend on political decisions.
Women like Condoleezza Rice and Hillary Clinton, intelligent, driven, and influential, are leading the way to a political future commanded by women, and frankly, it is about time we had our say. The world could do with a little more mothering and nurturing and I am personally hopeful that increased female presence in politics will initiate a refocusing of federal politics towards increasing domestic stability and fostering more amicable foreign relations. Thankfully, our nation’s young women do indeed seem attentive and eager to reclaim and refocus American politics.