Is it finally time for a female president? 

More than 200 women have sought the U.S. presidency in the last 250 years. Only Hillary Clinton in 2016 and Kamala Harris in 2024 became major-party nominees. No woman has ever won the nation’s most consequential job. 

The next presidential election is more than two years away, but several women are already mentioned as possible candidates. Voters will be asked again to decide whether America is ready to elect its first female president. But that is the wrong question. 

The correct question, of course, is which candidate has the right skills and qualities to lead America at this point in history. Voters shouldn’t select or reject a presidential candidate just because she’s a woman. Gender should not be a factor. The time will come when a woman finally breaks through the shatter-resistant ceiling that female candidates have encountered for so long. That ceiling is beginning to show some cracks, but it’s still fortified by stereotypes. 

Politico reports that “Americans remain wary of electing a female president.” An American University poll “reveals a complicated portrait of how voters view women in politics.” Voters want to see more women in public office, but “bias and narrow expectations” surface when voters react to women in our highest office.

What expectations? “Empathy, inclusivity, and fresh perspectives are widely seen as unique strengths women bring to elected roles,” the poll found. However, while women are most trusted to address family-related issues, men are more trusted to deal with national security, foreign adversaries, crime........

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