Who's Ready For a Female President?

Time will tell whether the country understands. Clinton has been both applauded and mocked for loosening her control over her psyche a notch. But the diner incident wasn't all there was to it. Some women I spoke to were tired of seeing Clinton attacked and were not ready to let go of the possibility that a woman might be elected president.

When the campaigns turn to Nevada, South Carolina and beyond, will women continue to turn out for Clinton in large numbers? South Carolina will be tough. It has the distinction of ranking at the bottom in the percentage of women in its legislature: 8.8 percent. There are not many female role models to guide voters, and the tradition that a Southern woman's place is in the home still lingers in some quarters.

Nevada and Florida provide friendlier territory. Nevada's legislature is 30.2 percent female, and women hold the statewide offices of attorney general, treasurer and controller. In Florida's legislature, 23.1 percent of the members are women, and the state has five women in Congress.

The more women head legislative bodies, like U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the more women who hold state elective offices, the less often it will be asked whether the country is "ready for a female president."

New Hampshire is ready. As for the rest of the nation, the next primaries may give us the answer.

The writer, a Democrat, is a former governor of Vermont and ambassador to Switzerland. She is the author of the forthcoming book, "Pearls, Politics and Power: How Women Can Win and Lead." She has endorsed Hillary Rodham Clinton.