There have been many strong female leaders during the course of history; Golda Meir, Indira Gandhi and Margaret Thatcher immediately spring to mind. About.com lists 46 women Prime Ministers or Presidents in the last century alone.

Pakistan’s Benazir Bhutto is among them, of course. Assassinated today, Bhutto was the first Prime Minister of an Islamic state. Leader of the Pakistan People’s Party, she served as prime minister from 1988-1990 and 1993-1996, and had been out campaigning for next month’s election when killed. Ms. Bhutto’s death is attributed to radical muslims who want islamic law in Pakistan.

Honestly, I am in awe of these women, the ones who shattered the glass ceiling of politics and served their constituents admirably and with a passion grown out of love for their countries. We here in the United States have not been blessed with a female President yet, but I still have hopes for a future Condi Rice run. If not her, then another strong woman with principles and passion will come along. But that hasn’t happened yet.

If I had the choice between a man or woman with identical credentials on the ballot, I never assumed that I’d pick the woman. I could, but there are a couple of qualifying traits I think that would be good for a woman running for POTUS:

1) I’d like for her to be a mother, with at least one grown, productive child… that she raised, not nannies. Multiple children are better, because if she can raise a passel o’ kids right, doing battle with them, her S/O, the school board & God… and maintain her sanity… She not only knows how to get things done, she can do the dirty work nobody else wants to take responsibility for while maintaining a sense of humor. She’s has the grace and courage to be unpopular, the unsung hero in the trenches, because she’s been there for years.

2) She should be post-menopausal. Go ahead and loathe me, but no one is asking if Hillary still has a period. In case you think that doesn’t matter… I am the most emotionally level woman I know, yet menopause turned me upside down and inside out. Even now, a few years after I think I’m clear of it, this morning I noticed the cowlick on the back of my head -the one that’s been there for as long as I can remember- and started sobbing violently.
All the pills and creams and doctor visits will not stop a peri-menopausal President from having a hot flash as she gleefully pushes the red button on some unsuspecting principality whose leader gave her hubby a glance at dinner two nights ago.

Men are still largely the leaders in America, leaving women to jostle to the head of the line and compete for attention amongst the ‘big boys’, being labeled everything from lesbians to bitches for their efforts. Witness Martha Stewart; people loathe that woman for many idiotic reasons, such as she works hard for what she wants, and gets it. She is good at what she does and makes money from it. Must be a bitch! Not necessarily.

And of course for my vision she would have to be conservative.

So, am I a grossly unfair traitor to my gender? Neither men nor women are perfect, but can we forget the battle of the sexes long enough to belly up to the world’s bar and elect a female president?