Earlham College | News from Public Affairs

Professor of History and Associate Academic Dean Alice Shrock (right) regularly teaches the popular course "Uppity Women," that looks at many of the challenges faced historically by women in leadership roles.

RICHMOND, Ind. — The ceiling in the U.S. House of Representatives may now be made of "broken" marble in the eyes of newly installed Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Cal. But, for the woman launching the first serious bid for the American presidency, Earlham College Professor of History Alice Shrock cautions the ceiling above the funny-shaped room at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue is made of stronger stuff.

Even with Pelosi's rise to within two heartbeats of the Oval Office and the success of other women in a variety of leadership roles from business and the professions to education, public service, the arts and more, Shrock believes there still are one or two "fundamental stops" women probably need to make before one takes the presidential oath.

"I don't think it can happen until a woman is secretary of defense," observes Shrock flatly. And, as a former assistant for the U.S. Congressional Women's Caucus, hers is no ivory tower view from the political hinterlands.

Although the Cold War has been over for nearly two decades, Shrock says the idea of a female finger "on the button" controlling the direction and application of U.S. military power remains as crucial an issue at the beginning of the 21st century as it was in the closing years of the 20th. The media call it a question of "electability," choosing to focus primarily on the character traits — alternately ingratiating or infuriating — of a particular presidential aspirant like U.S. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y. (who Shrock fully expects will announce her candidacy soon). That's the shallowest view.

"She's certainly managed to work hard and be supported by so many New Yorkers," Shrock says of Clinton, who won her 2006 re-election effort in the Empire State with 67 percent of the vote. "She's also done well working with her colleagues in the Senate, so I really don't think it's about 'electability' in the political sense."

Or even likeability in the personal sense, adds Shrock. According to the teacher of "Uppity Women," a popular Earlham course on the challenges confronted by women in leadership roles, the biggest obstacle Sen. Clinton faces in her quest to return to the White House — this time as the boss — could be overcoming American mores about women in the historical sense.

"Because they are mothers, women are by nature pacifists," elucidates Shrock. "Women don't know about war or combat, for the most part. And, frankly, it's an uncomfortable feeling for many Americans to think of a woman being assertive enough and aggressive enough to be commander in chief."

Not that Shrock believes there is any real basis for discounting a woman's ability to deal with the most critical national security issues. For those who want to argue the point, she keeps at the ready two, two-word answers: "Margaret Thatcher" and "Golda Meir."

Thatcher served as Great Britain's first and to date only woman prime minister from 1979-90. Meir holds the same distinctions in Israel, where she directed the Labour government from 1969-74.

While Thatcher never served as defense minister before assuming the British premiership, her 1976 Kensington Town Hall speech vilifying the Soviet Union did earn her the sobriquet of "Iron Lady" from no less a critical group of reviewers than the editors of the U.S.S.R.'s official Red Star newspaper. (She later directed the British military response to Argentina's 1982 invasion of the U.K.-held Falkland Islands, notes Shrock, who observed a portion of Thatcher's time in office at close hand, having also once served as a women's issues officer for the House of Commons.)

Meir, meanwhile, was one of just 24 people (and one of only two women) who on May 14, 1948, signed the Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel — akin to the U.S. Declaration of Independence. (She also later guided her country's military action during the 1973 Yom Kippur War.)

Despite their unparalleled credentials, however, Thatcher and Meir largely owe their ascendancy to historical distinctions, Shrock insists, meaning parliamentary-style governments and — in Meir's case — a "frontier society" in which all members are expected to "prove their worth and equality."

"In fact, Thatcher never expected there to be a woman prime minister in her lifetime," says Shrock.

Truly astute female politicians in this country have long understood that the road to the White House demands they, in particular, establish their national security bona fides . Which is at least one of the reasons why former Congresswoman Pat Schroeder (D-Colo.;1973-97) "worked so deliberately to get a seat on the Armed Services Committee," relates Shrock, and why today Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.; 1987- ) enjoys seats on the Homeland Security and Defense subcommittees.

"There are fundamental stops at which any political candidate must prove a certain competency before moving ahead," says Shrock. "Our political system — our history — just happens to place this seemingly unique premium on a woman running for president. That's why I say at this point it's probably going to require a woman as secretary of defense. After all, the bar hasn't gotten any lower."

Contact:
Alice Shrock, professor of history and associate academic dean
765/983-1261 — E-Mail Alice