America is perhaps the only major democracy, which hasn't yet elected a Female head of state. Shirimavo Bandarnayake (the first ever woman Prime Minister was from Sri Lanka), Indira Gandhi (India), Margaret Thatcher (UK), Andrea Merkel (Germany) are the ones who immediately come to mind.
In 1872 Susan Anthony was arrested for voting in the Presidential election in New York. That came after the Abolition of Slavery in 1865. It wasn't until 1920 that for the first time nearly 8 million American women voted in a Presidential election. That was still less than a century back. America was slow to open up to equal rights and liberation for women, though many women fought during America's war of Independence against the British. It wasn't until 1930s when Hollywood Actresses Marlene Dietrich and Katharine Hepburn started wearing pants in movies, setting a trend for women wearing trousers in public.
When World War II started, America became a major supplier to the war ravaged Europe. The overwhelming demand was accompanied by a boom in the economy, leading to the hiring of women. The old adage "Man brings home the bacon, woman stays home to bake bread" was gone. But a woman President has eluded the nation since then. It almost happened in 2008, when a dark horse Obama created another sort of history. If things go right Hillary is all set to become the first Woman president in 2016, creating another history of sort.
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