Geraldine Ferraro – The Great Hope for Women’s Participation in the Political Process – 1935 - 2011

Geraldine Ferraro, the first woman to be nominated as a candidate for major party executive office ticket, passed away on Saturday, March 26, 2011. Ferraro was nominated as the Vice Presidential Candidate to stand besides Walter Mondale during the 1984 Presidential Elections. The outcome of which, was a second term for Ronald Reagan. The outcome had less to do with the fact that Ferraro was on the ticket, than the basic popularity of Reagan at the time, however, there were barbs left and right for the first woman to gain access to the lofty previous male dominated slot. What Geraldine Ferraro meant to so many women was that, as a whole, women were able to do more than play secretary, nurse or school teacher, hairdresser or clerk – that as a group, women were able to aspire to much higher positions, within business and within the government.

Although it would be decades before another major party nominated a woman as their Vice Presidential candidate (Palin/McCain 2008), Ferraro was the one who took the initial criticisms, the initial fallout from being a woman who dared to knock at that glass ceiling. She was, and will remain an inspiration to millions of woman. It does not matter which political party one might belong, as women, we must acknowledge the achievements of women, especially in the political arena, as we have so few role models that qualify as positive for young women today. Others that come to mind are Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin, as they both attempted to break the male mold, and suffered the consequences of the fact that they were women, who dared to try and run for an office considered “traditionally male”.

It remains, to many of us, a mystery as to why a woman is put under such a fine microscope, regardless of political affiliation, by woman who are in the press, or for that matter, the electorate – it is almost as if a hair clip and or a small misstep is judged so much more harshly than if a male were involved. In excusing the women who have made remakes detrimental to all of the aforementioned, and as we can be sure, those to come, perhaps it is because as women, we expect perfection, rather than a reality that a woman is as worthy as man, and not perfect. Alternately, many women hold the same prejudices that men hold, that perhaps the nation “is not ready” to have a woman in the Oval Office, or even in the room next door. We are one of the last nations on earth to subscribe to that school of thought. Geraldine made it possible for those women who have the courage to put themselves forward for the good of all, to take the heat for it, whether to succeed or no – and we all, each and every one of us, owe her a great debt of gratitude.