What if SHE were elected?
By Carole Crolley crolleyc@bellsouth.net

I do not understand the concept of a caucus. It feels very much like, after several months of listening intently to a host of candidates, I do not really have a voice in choosing the candidates who actually run for the presidency. I am obsessed with this election for one reason - a qualified woman is in the hunt.

Two days before the caucuses CNN followed each of the top six candidates all day long filming them in 10- minute segments as they visited different locations in Iowa. I was glued to the marathon. I even learned a few new things about the candidates. Nothing led me to change my mind, however. I am stuck with the grand idea we are coming very close in American history to having a female president.

I know it is not politically correct to be fixed on one candidate because of gender. I know this borders on reverse discrimination. I cannot be logical or fair here. I want to see a woman elected to the presidency in my lifetime. Now, when it seems a possibility, I realize this is what I have worked for my whole life.

I am a feminist. That is a hard thing to admit in South Carolina. It's like saying I'm on crack, and I beat my kids.

I marched in Washington for women's rights on two occasions. I guarded the doorway of an abortion clinic in Atlanta to keep hecklers from frightening young women entering the clinic. I marched on the capitol in Columbia more than once for civil rights and violence against women or any event supporting my gender. What if SHE were elected and the U.S. actually had a female president? What would that mean for our daughters and granddaughters?

Of course, I have seen progress for women in my 68 years, so I feel pretty good about being a feminist. I worked at Dreher High School in my youth. Those were the days when the male teachers were paid more for doing the same job as the female teachers. The reasoning of the day was the men had families to support. Ironically, nothing was said about the women who, for whatever reasons, were supporting families.

One day my fourth- grade daughter came home with a note from her school asking for my permission for him to go with his class on a field trip. My little girls

response, "There's that he

again."

Then came the Roe vs. Wade decision, and all of a sudden, women did not have to be pregnant unless they wanted to be.

Fewer than 100 years ago, it was against the law for a doctor to even discuss birth control with a patient.

Imagine a woman president of the U.S. My granddaughter would be spared the feeling of restrictions on her because of her gender. That would be a wonderful thing!