According to a New York Times analysis, Obama has not elected women to high-level executive branch posts any more than Clinton only a couple of decades ago.
Which, according to many, clearly answers the question: Has been President Obama’s election been good for women?
The reason why this question has become important off late is because the President now has to deal with pressure to elect Janet Yellen as the head of Federal Reserve with its current occupant’s, Ben Bernake, expiring shortly.
It must be said that if Yellen is appointed, she will become the first women to hold such a high-ranking post.
Until now, his four Cabinet replacements for his second term are all men with John Kerry replacing Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State, Chuck Hagel for Leon Panetta as Defense Secretary, John Brennan will head the CIA while Jack Lew will replace Timothy Geithner.
While there were a number of women in his first-term Cabinet namely the Secretary of State, top healthcare adviser and Homeland Security secretary, that number has dwindled due to the lack of women available for the most important jobs in his administration.
Still, his nomination of two judges to the Supreme Court and the appointment of Susan Rice to replace Clinton must be highlighted, of which the third might have gone through if she hadn’t make inaccurate remarks about the September 11, 2012 attack on the US embassy in Libya.
With that said, the raw numbers still reveal that 35% hold Cabinet-level posts while under Clinton and Bush that number was about 41% and 24%.