Should A Woman Be Allowed to hold the office of President of the USA?

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New Orleans's first female mayor to lead city during its 300th anniversary

 

FILE PHOTO: New Orleans mayoral candidate LaToya Cantrell participates in a news conference as Tropical Storm Nate approaches the U.S. Gulf Coast in New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S. on October 6, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan Bachman/File Photo

 

REUTERS - A New Orleans City Council member who launched a political career after helping her neighborhood recover from Hurricane Katrina was elected as the city's first female mayor this weekend in a runoff that pitted her against another woman.

 

LaToya Cantrell, 45, on Saturday defeated former Municipal Court Judge Desiree Charbonnet in a special runoff election to replace Mitch Landrieu. Both women are African-American.

 

Cantrell will take office as the 51st mayor of New Orleans in May 2018 as the Louisiana city celebrates the 300th anniversary of its founding by the French in 1718.

 

"Almost 300 years, my friends, and in New Orleans we're still making history," Cantrell said in a victory speech to supporters on Saturday.

 

"We are no longer about the haves and the have-nots," she said. "Our city continues to grow and give real opportunity. That pie is getting larger so that each and every one of us can share in it, can win in our city."

 

Cantrell and Charbonnet were the top vote-getters in a field of 18 candidates in an October general election.

 

Both women gained political traction from their response to Katrina, which devastated New Orleans in 2005, killing more than 1,800 people.

 

Cantrell was one of the leaders of a grassroots effort to fight a city advisory panel's proposal to turn her Broadmoor neighborhood in a green belt after it was hit by severe hurricane-related flooding. The cause propelled her to win a City Council seat in 2012.

 

In Katrina's aftermath, Charbonnet, then the city's elected recorder of mortgages, pressed for the office to reopen as quickly as possible so it could provide vital property records to displaced residents.

 

(Reporting by Barbara Goldberg in New York; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-11-20

[Rancid]

Don't quite understand the excitement about female politicians. They have long proved to be the equal of men in corruption, nepotism, favoring big donors and screwing the rest of the population. Now, that is what I call complete equality.

[helpisgood]

5 hours ago, Rancid said:

Don't quite understand the excitement about female politicians. They have long proved to be the equal of men in corruption, nepotism, favoring big donors and screwing the rest of the population. Now, that is what I call complete equality.

I do agree with you that women politicians can be just as corrupt as the male politicians.  In fact, I agree with you that we should not get excited about each and every successful woman candidate.  Yet, I add that we should be excited if she truly is the best candidate for the job.

 

We should not overlook what may be the two most important reasons for such excitement.  Women have been, of course, long underrepresented in places of power.  Being so, consider all of the wonderful talent that has never had a chance to reach fruition due to sexism.  I can only imagine how many, literally, millions of girls never had a true chance to be in a profession because of such extremely outdated beliefs that a woman's place is only in the home or they should be limited to certain professions like nursing or when people choose a man over a woman merely because of gender.  All of us, male and female, will benefit when sexism is completely removed as a hindrance to a woman's aspirations.  

 

Also, and this may be the more exciting part and is related to my previous point, such successful women like this new mayor set a further example to young women and girls that, yes, they too can achieve a position of power in this world.  Role models do play a role in people's lives.  

 

So, I do believe that you raise a good point to the extent that not each and every successful woman candidate is the best or even a good one.  However, let's do get excited about more and more qualified women being able to contribute to our world as sexism, hopefully, becomes less and less of a factor.