Thursday 9 June 2016

So Hillary Clinton

reckons she has the nomination all tied up? It does seem likely.
But it has made me think about women in politics yet again.
I have a very good friend, R..., who was once a Senator in the Downunder federal parliament. I know more than one other female Senator. I also know some current and former female politicians in the lower house and in state parliament. 
We have had quite a few one way and another. They are all rather remarkable women. I like some more than others but that is only to be expected.  There are still demands for more to join their ranks but, compared with some parts of the world, we aren't doing too badly. Things are improving too. Two of the current candidates running in our local seat are female. I had a chat to one of them the other day. (My reputation had gone ahead of me - ouch!)
Downunder had a female Prime Minister for a short time. She wasn't made of quite the same stuff as the female Prime Minister who once led our Kiwi mates across the pond in New Zealand but yes, she was a female Prime Minister. And we have (and have had) female Premiers - for Upoverites in the US, I think the equivalent is a state governor. 
Other countries have had female leaders too of course. It would be difficult to forget the UK's Margaret Thatcher and Israel's Golda Meir or India's Indira Gandhi.  Germany's Angela Merkel looms large in present day Europe. Thailand, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Taiwan, the Philippines, South Korea have all managed to have female leaders. 
So, will the United States do it now? It's an interesting thought - and the alternative worries me. 

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