Women! Women! Women!

Nominated candidates aside, the two most prominent names in this year's presidential politics are Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton. Suddenly we are learning about Linda Lilley, Kathleen Sebelius and other women governors across the country. Increasingly, women judges are presiding over courts major and minor. Women are being identified as the C.E.O. of ever larger corporations. Our Secretary of State is a woman. Holy crap! Women are taking over the world.

OK.

There was a time when powerful women were not just admired, they were almost worshipped. Consider the legendary Jeanne d'Arc and you visualize a steel-willed woman mounting her steed, drawing her sword, and leading an army of men after a fleeing enemy.

But something happened. Women were relegated to the kitchen. They were told what careers they could pursue... nursing, teaching, etc. And heaven forbid that they be permitted to vote! Was it because religion taught us that Eve induced the woes of Adam and all subsequent men? Islam, even today, not only teaches subservience of women, it demands it.

But, some insist, women are different. True, they are different physically. And if you are thinking more delicate limbs, softer skin, and gentle curves, many of us men say Viva la difference!

But the difference only counts if brawn is a job requirement. Looking for an NFL lineman? Think male. If the job requires brains, the scale tilts female. I think it is an evolution thing. Because women lack the brawn, they have been forced to develop the brain. Seriously, when you have to think your way out of a situation, as opposed to punching your way out, you learn to exercise and strengthen your brain. Boys become stonger. Girls become smarter.

When women were freed to pursue the career of their interest, not one deemed appropriate to their gender, girls flooded the classrooms of universities everywhere. Men once joked, "But this is science and she is a girl." Now you might say.... "This is science, she is a girl and of course she is the head of her class"

So, at long, long last, we have come to realize that we have a great, often untapped reservoir of brain power in the women of the world.

I have four sisters, three daughters and seven granddaughters, so I know a little something about women. And, I truly believe that beginning in 2012, the elected president of the United States will be a woman. I also believe the day is coming when we will all be astonished to hear that a man has been added to the ticket!