Women who run things

Country Leader Notes
Ireland President Mary McAleese elected 1997
New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark elected 1999
Finland President Tarja Halonen elected 2000
The Philippines President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo succeeded 2001, elected 2004
Mozambique Prime Minister Luisa Diogo appointed 2004
Germany Chancellor Angela Merkel elected 2005
Liberia President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf elected 2006
Chile President Michelle Bachelet elected 2006
Switzerland President Micheline Calmy-Rey appointed 2007
India President Pratibha Patil elected 2007

I had an interesting conversation with my sister-in-law last weekend. She tends to be a conservative Republican and so I was curious in the much-splintered repub field who she supported. She fumbled for a while but eventually said probably Thompson, although she didn't seem to know his name right away. Described him as that 'Law and Order guy'. I asked about Guliani and she said she couldn't respect him because of his divorces and relationship with his children. Funny thing is she didn't really know who the rest of the candidates were. She did, however, have the very incorrect propoganda about the top democrats stuck in her head. She actually sincerely believed Obama was a Muslim, and she believed Hillary could not be an effective president because other countries would not respect or speak to a woman leader. Curious, I did a search for female leaders currently in power. I think if India can get by with a female leader, the US should be just fine.