Women Presidents?

I opened my Houston Chronicle this morning and the first thing to catch my eye was that Chile, Chile mind you!, had elected their first female president. And here in the United States it still seems such a far-fetched idea that a woman could be elected president that the only way tv could make it 'palatable' to the public was to elect a woman as vice-president and then elevate her to the office of president through the death of the president. (and to have that woman be an independent candidate, at that!) HARUMPH!!

Yes, there's more discussion now about the electability of Hiliary Clinton or Condaleeza Rice as president, but if you listen to the subtext, there's almost a not-in-a-million-years flavor to the discussion. What is our problem?!?

It's not that we don't have women with the qualifications and credentials to serve as president. There are women quite ably managing Fortune 500 coumpanies and dealing in international commerce who should have gained sufficient experience to manage all of the various responsibilities of the presidency. Yet you can almost feel people cringing away from the concept. *very deep and long sigh*

Golda Meir of Israel and Margaret Thatcher of Great Britain are two women who come to my mind immediately as strong and capable leaders nationally and internationally. Meir rose to prominence in the late 60's-early 70's, Thatcher in the late 70's-early 90's. And the USA still slogs along wondering about whether a woman could do the job.

This year the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) celebrates 100 years of ordaining women to leadership roles as Deacons and 50 years of ordaining women as Ministers of Word and Sacraments. (The 75th anniversary of the ordination of women as Elders was celebrated last year.) The church hasn't fallen apart as a result. Men and women both bring different gifts to their ministries, just as each individual brings different gifts. Yet there are still places here in the United States where the concept of women in official leadership roles is an obstacle to be overcome.

One of the most fulfilling experiences I had in my previous pastorate was working with a Native American congregation to help them (at their request) to elect women into leadership as Elders. The intriguing thing in this instance was that the men were highly encouraging of the concept, but the women were reluctant to put their names in the hat. Over the course of a couple of years, I watched the men and women minister together in that congregation and tried to understand what the source of their reticence was.

This was a congregation without a pastor and the Elders took turns on Sundays with the preaching responsibilities during the Sunday morning worship. They also had a Sunday evening worship service, and often the women would be the main leadership, reading Scripture, leading prayers, and giving the message. In watching, I learned that the women were actually fulfilling main leadership roles, but simply weren't serving in elected positions of authority. As I talked with the women, I learned that what made them fearful of election to office was the expectation to preach at the Sunday morning worship service. (Isn't it odd what things lead us to shy away from moving forward?)

Once the men on the Session agreed to let a woman Elder opt out of preaching on Sunday mornings, and once I had pointed out to the women that they were already fulfilling all of the responsibilities of Elder, we had one of the women of the congregation agree to be nominated and she was elected. By the time I left that pastorate, I believe she was also filling the pulpit on Sunday mornings! AWESOME!!

As a woman pastor, I've also encountered more difficulty in terms of acceptance from women in the congregation. And it's not the kind of problem that one would expect - of a woman pastor acting inappropriately with a male church member - as has often been the concern of wives where women have entered other previously male-dominated fields. Rather, as one woman put it, "My daddy would roll over in his grave if he knew I was going to a church with a woman pastor."

I wonder if it's some of this kind of thinking which is making it more difficult for a majority of Americans to consider the possibility of electing a woman as president. If so, we are cutting off our noses to spite our faces. I wonder what it would take to dispel the obstacles placed in the path of potential women presidents. I hope we can someday soon get beyond them and tap into the potential gifts to be brought to a presidency by women. Oh well, at least when the counting's done, we won't be among the ranks of Saudi Arabia and Monaco, who have never had a woman to serve in at least a sub-ministerial position. That's saying something for us at any rate!