OK, let's hear it for the women

Belle Wheelan, the former president of Central Virginia Community College and now head of the Commission on Colleges, once told me a story about being nominated for president of the local Rotary Club.

Since she is black, and this was Lynchburg, she was naturally concerned how other members of the overwhelmingly white group might react to her being placed in charge.

“When I was contacted,” she recalled, “I asked, ‘How many club members do you think would quit if I were elected?’”

“I’d like to think no one, although you never know,” the man on the nominating committee said. “I think this club is ready to have a woman president.”

I thought of that during the recent Hillary Clinton-Barack Obama Democratic presidential primary battle, and also when I got a call from Michelle Duncan the other day.

Duncan is the events coordinator for the Central Virginia YWCA, and she was asking for some publicity for the 2008 Academy of Women Gala in October.

Normally, I don’t think past next week, much less four months down the road. But the deadline for nominations in 11 categories — arts, athletics, business, communications, education, government/law, health/science, human services, leadership, teen women and volunteers — is July 20, and Duncan said she wanted to make sure there were plenty of nominees to choose from.

Why does the YWCA single out women in this way? Maybe because it’s necessary.

At the risk of being considered a traitor to my gender, I see many more issues between men and women than blacks and whites. The latter is historical; the former is biological.

Clinton’s concession speech was all about having taken the plunge into the presidential shark tank for the benefit of all women.

I’m not sure I buy that completely, because I think she wanted very badly to be president for her own sake, as well. Still, you didn’t have to venture far into the Internet underworld during the recent campaign to discover the depths of gender-based hostility. Some of the anti-Clinton jokes and comments were of the sort you had to laugh at, even though you felt guilty. Others were appalling.

You or I could have been on the ballot against Clinton when she first ran for the Senate, I believe, and the result would have been the same. People either voted for Hillary or against her. Her opponent (I forget his name) was largely irrelevant.

Why wouldn’t a woman make a good national leader? Women tend to be better listeners, more empathetic, more persuasive and are free of all the macho baggage that causes male politicians to drag their country into conflicts that are actually personal. Plus, they know how to balance budgets. Unfortunately, those who run for higher office often try to out macho their male opponents, just to make a point.

Journalism, the profession in which I’ve spent most of my working life, seems to be a model of equality — at least on the surface. My immediate boss (the city editor), my ultimate boss (the publisher), and at least half of my colleagues are female.

In some other occupations, from what I hear, the Good Ol’ Boy network still reigns supreme.

Chances are that won’t have changed by October.