The Secret That Was Victoria

While America sits in debate over the possibility of her first female president, all but written out of the history books is the chapter containing that of the first female presidential candidate, Victoria Claflin Woodhul. Her 1872 campaign against Ulysses S. Grant was a brazen endeavor indeed, considering that women were not given the right to vote until 1920. Running on the appropriately named Equal Rights Party ticket, her nominee for vice president was Frederick Douglass, who never publicly acknowledged his nomination. Victoria and her sister, Tennessee, opened the first brokerage firm that was owned and operated by women in 1870. While never shying away from controversy, she was founder and editor of the Woodhull and Claflin's Weekly which championed feminism, socialism, sex education, and the labor movement. The first English translation of Karl Marx's The Communist Manifesto was published in an 1872 issue. She denounced the hypocrisy of the expectations of monogamy for women while married men commonly kept mistresses. She later moved to England and established the magazine, The Hmanitarian which was published from 1892 to 1901. She would reside in England until her death in 1927.

For a more in depth look at Victorial Claflin Woodhull and her many achievements, please see:

http://www.answers.com/topic/victoria-claflin-woodhull

A Woman's Place is in the House

While still warm in the afterglow of the Democrats regaining power in
the Congress for the first time in 12 years and freeing this country
from the choke hold of a one-party system, it has become clear that the
230 odd year struggle for having a woman at the helm of the U.S. House
of Representatives (still only twice removed removed from the Presidency,
but a victory nonetheless) will still be belittled by some. Not for what she
can do but simply by her gender.

Check out Rush Limbaugh's comments on Nancy Pelosi
http://mediamatters.org/items/200701060001

I wonder how tolerated comments about fried chicken and watermelon would
be if Barack Obama should become elected as our first black president?
Never mind his intelligence and capabilities. I assume outcries
regarding such deplorable commentaries would rightly emerge, such as
they did in in regards to the ad campaign against Harold Ford, Jr.
Although somehow missing in the observations of the distastefulness of
said ad, was the fact that not only was it racist, but it was sexist as
well.

It never ceases to amaze me just how little our society has grown when
it comes to how we look at others. Particularly when it comes to our
elected officials, I prefer that we look deeply into ethics that they
hold dear and what deeds are done within the power that they wield
rather than the physical description stated on their driver's license.

Shouldn't There Be More? Is Pelosi A Sign Of The Near Future?

Seems there should be more to this list. Women in this country have come a long ways but with the help of the media, some of that has been taken away (just think about it).

WOMEN'S MILESTONES IN US POLITICS

1916
Jeanette Rankin, R-Mont., became the first woman elected to the House.

1920
The 19th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified, granting women the right to vote.

1922
Rebecca Latimer Felton, D-Ga., became the first woman to serve in the Senate. She was appointed to fill temporarily a vacant seat and served for only two days.

1925
Nellie Tayloe Ross, D-Wyo., became the first woman governor, after she was elected to replace her deceased husband.

1925
Rep. Mae Ella Nolan, R-Calif., became the first woman to chair a congressional committee, when she headed the committee on expenditures in the Post Office Department.

1931
Sen. Hattie Wyatt Caraway, D-Ark., was appointed to the Senate to succeed her deceased husband. She later became the first woman elected to the Senate.

1933
Frances Perkins became the first woman to serve in the Cabinet, when President Roosevelt appointed her secretary of labor.

1981
Sandra Day O'Connor became the first woman on the Supreme Court.

1984
Rep. Geraldine A. Ferraro, D-N.Y., became the first woman to run on a major party's national ticket, when she was selected by Democrat Walter Mondale as his vice presidential running mate.

2007
Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., becomes first female speaker of the House this week. She became the first woman to head her party in Congress when she was elected House minority leader in 2002.

The preceding list was provided by:
Center for American Women and Politics - Take a look and learn.

Why have we, the most powerful "democracy" in the world, never had a woman president when we had and have many well qualified women that could be president?
Countries of lesser means and so called "third world" countries have had and do have women in the most powerful positions in those countries.
Why not the here in the USA?

I believe the answer lies within the "good old boy" party structure and the degrading and belittling of women through the media.

Are these some of the reasons?

What "sane" voter could ever vote for a woman when so many women let themselves be "used" to titillate?
Worse yet, women who believe they have taken some sort of "power" back by doing these degrading things and using degrading and stereo typing words voluntarily.

Or is it you and I? Are we so blind that we can not reject what the media feeds us? Can we not see the strong and well qualified women in and around our lives and realize that they or someone like them Can Be President?