Woman President: Majority say time is right

Americans sometimes have thought of themselves as educating Japan about the rights of women. The two countries seem to be pretty much in tandem, however, as they contemplate larger leadership roles for women.

Japan, to be sure, is just now debating the removal of a feudal bar to having a female ascend to the imperial throne. A yearlong study of whether to allow an empress to take the ceremonial position has been launched, largely out of official desperation over the lack of male heirs in the royal family. The Japanese public, though, realizes the question is a no-brainer. Nearly four of five people surveyed by Yomiuri Shimbun, Japan's largest daily paper, said changing the law would be fine.

In this country, a new Hearst Newspapers/Siena College poll has found that a majority of Americans say the country is ready for a woman president in 2008 and 95 percent expect one sometime in the near future. It's encouraging to see that the public regards Hillary Clinton, Condoleezza Rice and others as legitimate candidates.

More than 20 percent of respondents said a woman wouldn't be as good a commander-in-chief as a man. Perhaps they have forgotten Israel's Golda Meir or Britain's Margaret Thatcher. To paraphrase the Iron Lady who led Britain to war over the Falkland Islands and urged President George H.W. Bush to confront Saddam Hussein, let's not go wobbly about the ability of women to lead a government.

Thursday, February 24, 2005 SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER EDITORIAL BOARD

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