Women and the X-chromosome

Commentary by PAT MURPHY

An erstwhile colleague from my Phoenix newspaper days aims to prove this notion: that because women have two X-chromosomes (versus one for men), women are really a far better breed.

Her premise, which she hopes to publish, is that women are more honest, more ethical, more dependable, more believable and better suited to lead by example, largely because of the mysterious magic of double X-chromosomes.

Well, now.

As more of William Jefferson Clinton’s squalid sexual depravities are dished up, Monicagate may hasten the day when voters are fed up with men in the White House and thereupon prompt election of the first female U.S. president so ladies can try their hand.

Heaven knows, women at the helm can’t be worse, perhaps even better.

Other countries have profited from women heads of state. Britain’s Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher came by her nickname, The Iron Lady, honestly: she waged war on Argentina over the Falkland islands and ran the sprawling UK with an iron fist.

Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir was no pushover in the tinderbox Middle East. India Prime Minister Indira Gandhi presided over one of the world’s most chaotic, most populous nations. Women rose to the top as presidents or prime ministers in Pakistan, Ireland, and the Philippines. And although ceremonial in her duties, Britain’s Queen Elizabeth is the glue keeping that monarchy together.

Anyone vaguely familiar with history of the American West knows how leathery women stood beside men with their flintlocks and helped cross the menacing frontiers of the uncharted continent.

Don’t we men always look up to women? The first words out of a triumphant athlete’s mouth when a microphone is shoved into his face is "Hi, Mom!"

Two women are distinguished associate justices of the U.S. Supreme Court. A sprinkling of women have served as governors, and more women are showing up in Congress. Ditto as CEOs in corporate America and the sciences and professions.

Because men imposed impossible obstacles for women – to vote, attend law and medical schools, to work – women understandably work harder and avoid behavior that could be their undoing.

Women also have helped end the good ol’ boy attitude that once ignored, covered up or winked at macho locker room behavior. Offenders now are dragged into court, as has been President Clinton.

I’m no late comer to this idea of women as leaders.

Because my father was in and out of a veteran hospital with World War I injuries as a Navy petty officer, and there was no welfare, my mother worked. By the time she died in her 80s, she was vice president of the company that hired her as a clerk 59 years earlier, clearly a model for me and my brother.

Years later, as publisher of the 18th and 19th largest morning and evening newspapers in the country, I hired and promoted women for key executive posts because of qualifications, plus a sixth sense that they’d excel.

Which they did.

Not all men are scoundrels or nincompoops, nor are all women angels or workplace virtuosos.

But the one elective office in our system that’s been denied women - the presidency – is the one in the most urgent need of a thorough housecleaning by a woman.

Pat Murphy is a past publisher of the Arizona Republic and a former radio commentator.