That's not because we don't understand the importance of infrastructure repair, but we tend to focus on the human side first. Yet Whitman does not always follow such pronouncements. The trouble with gender generalizations is that female politicians are not monolithic, any more than the women who may or may not vote for them. There are certain commonalities, women's issues, and concerns that bond female politicians on both sides of the aisle, although pro-choice considerations can be a sticking point for some Republican and Catholic women. Yet others stand up to their party and church and are pro-choice.
Generational differences are often at play, with younger women being more assertive.
Maryland's Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend insisted on a guarantee that she would not be a ceremonial token before taking the post. Three cabinet secretaries reported directly to her and she oversaw spending for public safety. The obvious heart of the problem for this book is the lack of women to write about, historically and currently, which makes for thin reading. The rest got there by virtue of widow's weeds, filling their dead husbands' terms until male replacements could be found. A dumb male took precedence over a bright woman.