If you give a mouse a cookie...

If Hillary Clinton is the next Secretary of State she will be the third woman to hold the position since its formation in 1789, not a small accomplishment. Of course, all three women will have been appointed to the position in a short time, raising some interesting questions. Has this become the accepted spot among high-ranking cabinet positions to put a woman, leaving the men to breathe easy... they have done enough. Look how enlightened they are! Look how this shows the president cares about women!

There's also the concern that the more women are seen as fit for a particular job, the less valued that job becomes and the more people will go out of their way to say it is more appropriate for womanly characteristics.

None of these things affect my opinion of whether Clinton is a good fit or whether she should accept the position, but they are questions worthy of discussion.

You know what's not a good question?

"What's with women and the Secretary of State job?"

That's how NPR posed the question in a promo for a piece on the the radical possibility that three out of the last four Secretaries of State have vaginas. Seriously, what's with those women? There are a couple problematic things going on here.

First, in any area long dominated by men, more than a few token women in the area suddenly becomes a concern. This is especially true in positions of power, where a small fraction of representation is considered sufficient. Anyone remember the Year of the Woman? In this case, all it takes to trigger this response is more than 50% women in the small amount of time since the first. Ignore the many men who preceded them!

(Of course, this isn't true just for women. I doubt that the next person elected president of the US will be black. I don't think either party will be willing to try to tackle the hurdle of the "but we've already done that" element. Which is nicely overlooked in all the white self-congratulatory pieces about how wonderful it is that the US can now elect someone other than a white man.)

And second, it reinforces the idea that women in positions of power and authority are taking the jobs away from men.

Finally, I'd like to ask, what's with men and the POTUS job??!!