The Glass Ceilings Left to Shatter

Federal Reserve Chair Nominee Janet Yellen

With all of the focus this past week on the debt ceiling, I haven't talked about the glass ceiling that got one step closer to being shattered: President Obama has nominated Janet Yellen to be the first woman to head the Federal Reserve.  Though Yellen's appointment process will be grueling, it does appear that she will eventually be confirmed.  This got me to thinking-what other positions or honors have not been achieved by women yet, and who is leading the charge to break down those barriers?  Here's a look:

The White House
The Glass Ceiling: No woman has ever been elected either President or Vice President of the United States.
The Contenders: Though only two women in history have ever been on a major ticket (Rep. Geraldine Ferraro in 1984 and Gov. Sarah Palin in 2008), women have taken a stronger and stronger role when it comes to the national political conversation, and it seems deeply unlikely that we won't have a third or possibly a fourth woman on a national ticket in 2016.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN)

The obvious contender for this position is Sec. Hillary Rodham Clinton, considered the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination in 2016, and her recent swipes at her most likely opponent in 2016, Vice President Joe Biden, may indicate that she's testing out a hypothetical campaign.  If she doesn't run, the Democrats have a plethora of women itching to make a go in 2016, particularly Sens. Amy Klobuchar (MN), Kirsten Gillibrand (NY), and Elizabeth Warren (MA).  Were one of the leading male contenders to win the nomination, it would be almost certain that they would select a woman as a running mate.  Any of the three above senators listed would be in the running, along with Sen. Claire McCaskill (MO), Sec. Janet Napolitano (AZ) and possibly even State Sen. Wendy Davis (TX).

The GOP side doesn't have an obvious candidate for President in 2016, but they certainly have a group of women whose names are thrown around occasionally.  Probably the only one that could crack into the national conversation against Cruz, Christie, Paul, and Ryan is former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who certainly has a national following still.  Others that will be included on most vice presidential shortlists are Govs. Nikki Haley (SC), Susana Martinez (NM), and Mary Fallin (OK), as well as Sen. Kelly Ayotte (NH).

Congress
The Glass Ceilings: Despite women having made some key progress in Congress, there are still four states that have never elected a woman to Congress: Delaware, Mississippi, Iowa, and Vermont.  Additionally, no woman has ever held the position of leader of her party in the United States Senate.

The Contenders: For the four states without a woman in the United States House or Senate, the only one with a legitimate chance of breaking that streak in 2014 is Iowa, where State Sen. Staci Appel is a touted recruit for the Democrats against Rep. Tom Latham in the third district.  Each state, though, has a number of prominent female politicians.

State Sen. Staci Appel (D-IA)

In Iowa, aside from Appel, a number of women are mentioned as possible Senate or congressional candidates in the future.  Two such women hold statewide office: Lt. Governor Kim Reynolds and State Auditor Mary Mosiman (both Republicans).

Mississippi has Republican women elected to two statewide offices: Agriculture Commissioner Cindy Hyde-Smith and State Treasurer Lynn Fitch.  I know little about either woman (they're both recently elected to office), but they hold positions that are frequently launching pads to higher office.

Delaware and Vermont are a notch above Iowa and Mississippi in the sense that they've elected women as their governor (neither are young enough to make a run at a congressional seat in the future though).  Neither state has a particularly robust slate of female politicians in traditional launching pad slots, though.  Vermont's State Treasurer is the recently (as of 2012) elected Beth Pearce, but she's not a career politician (this is her first foray into elective office), so she doesn't appear to be the type to make the jump into federal office (and Vermont's three incumbents are relatively entrenched).  Delaware's sole female statewide official is Democrat Karen Weldin Stewart, an ambitious two-term Insurance Commissioner.  The problem for Weldin Stewart isn't that she doesn't seem to have drive to succeed in a congressional race, it's that a small state like Delaware has so few races for ambitious politicians of any sort.  If for some reason one of the congressional seats opens up (Tom Carper's will probably be next) opens up, Attorney General Beau Biden, Governor Jack Markell, and Rep. John Carney will be lining up for it.

Finally, as far as female leadership in the Senate, only two women have prominent leadership positions within a Senate leadership team: Senate Conference Secretary Patty Murray (D-WA) and Policy Committee Chair Debbie Stabenow (D-MI).  Murray's position is higher up on the chain, and her role as Chair of the Budget Committee has given her additional national media.  However, Harry Reid seems pretty content to stay on as leader, and if he retired, Murray would have to take out two Democratic titans of the Senate: Dick Durbin of Illinois and Chuck Schumer of New York.

Cabinet Secretaries
The Glass Ceiling: No woman has served as Secretary of Defense, Secretary of the Treasury, or Secretary of Veterans Affairs in the United States.

The Contenders: With Janet Napolitano's recent tenure as Secretary of Homeland Security, only three positions in the presidential cabinet (other than President and Vice President) have not been filled by women: Defense, Treasury, and Veterans Affairs.

Michelle Fluornoy

Defense for a while there looked like it would be removed from this list.  When Leon Panetta retired as Secretary of Defense, Michelle Flournoy, the former Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, was rumored to be his replacement.  While Chuck Hagel was eventually appointed, Fluornoy was a key member of the President's first-term team, and was the highest-ranking woman in the history of the Pentagon.  Were Hagel to leave after the Midterms, it would be safe to assume that she would be considered for the position again.

Treasury is an equally male-dominated field, and once again, an Obama appointee is the highest-ranking woman in the department, or at least she will be if the Senate confirms her.  Sarah Bloom Raskin's nomination to be the Deputy Secretary of the Treasury is currently before the Senate, and if confirmed, she would be second-in-command under Jack Lew and the highest-ranking woman in the department's history.  Lew recently joined the cabinet, so I doubt he'll be leaving anytime soon, but if he were Raskin and potentially Under Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs Lael Brainard would be amongst the contenders for the spot.

Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki seems like one of those cabinet secretaries that will stay on for the entirety of the President's term in office, so this is the only cabinet position without a real shot of being filled by a woman in the next four years.  Were Shinseki to retire, I can think of two women that would be on a shortlist: the first would be Under Secretary of Veterans Affairs for Benefits Allison Hickey.  Hickey's tenure at Benefits, though, has been marred by an enormous backlog in getting benefits to military veterans, and her appointment process would be grueling.  The second choice would be a bit unorthodox-Rep. Tammy Duckworth served early in President Obama's first-term in the Veterans Affairs department, but has since been elected to Congress.  Considering that Duckworth would be giving up a promising career in Congress to serve for maybe 1-2 years as head of this department (she's only 45 and is a frontrunner for the Democratic nomination to take on Sen. Kirk in 2016), I doubt she'd give that up to be in charge here, but the message boards were pretty strong on her in 2008.

Chief Justice of the Supreme Court

The Four Women to serve on the Supreme Court:
Justices O'Connor, Sotomayor, Ginsburg, and Kagan

The Glass Ceiling: No woman has served as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
The Contenders: President Obama has doubled the number of women to serve on the Supreme Court, but the top spot remains elusive to women.  Considering John Roberts' age, this is almost certain to remain out-of-reach for anyone, male or female, for decades.  George W. Bush did consider Harriet Miers (and boy did the Democrats push him to consider Sandra Day O'Connor) when the nomination happened, but ultimately decided against it.  With three women on the court currently, the better question is this-will the Supreme Court become the first federal body to have more female members than male?

Academy Awards
The Glass Ceiling: The Oscars have started to clean up their house a bit in the past few years in regard to gender equality.  Kathryn Bigelow broke the biggest glass ceiling for a woman with AMPAS when she picked up the Best Director trophy.  However, there's still one major category that has lacked a female winner, and quite frankly, a female nominee: Best Cinematography.

Maryse Alberti

The Contenders: For those who consider themselves aficionados of great cinematography, you'd be forgiven if you couldn't name a single female cinematographer-I had to do some research on this one.  One of the principle female cinematographers is Maryse Alberti, who shot the Oscar-nominated The Wrestler (probably the closest a woman has ever gotten to a nomination).  Alberti has twice been nominated for the Indy Spirit Award for cinematography.

Ellen Kuras doesn't have the robust resume that Alberti does, but she's got probably the best lensed film of any woman listed here: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.  Some consider her the woman who came the closest to the Oscar, but I think Alberti's The Wrestler (which I maintain was in the running for a Best Director slot) is probably the highest.

Mandy Walker is also a hard-working DP, and had her film Australia, been better received by audiences and critics in 2008, that film looks like the sort of movie that could have been nominated.  Walker consistently works with strong directors, so this could happen at some point.

Otherwise, this looks like one of the least attainable goals in the near future (prove me wrong, people!). I cannot find one single Oscar contender in 2013 that has a female DP (if you know of one, let me know in the comments!)

Big 4 Coach

The Glass Ceiling: No woman has ever been a coach of a Big 4 sports team (NBA, MLB, NFL, or NHL).
The Contenders: I'm going to admit at the beginning of this particular write-up that I don't know a lot about sports, but figured this was one that was too big of a glass ceiling not to discuss (the Indy 500 writeup got scrapped entirely because I couldn't figure out NASCAR, Formula One, and Indy racing, but bravo to Danica Patrick for being a trailblazer in at least one of those sports, if not multiple ones).

From the research that I've found online, the NFL and MLB don't seem to have many female trailblazers in regard to coaching (again-field I'd love to learn about, so share in the comments!).  Major League Baseball does have their first head athletic trainer now, though, with the L.A. Dodgers' Sue Falsone.

Nicole Kirnan was the first woman to be the head coach of a professional hockey league in 2013, for the 1000 Islands Privateers (in the Federal Hockey League).  This field also seems wildly male-dominated, and Kirnan's one season was a losing one, so she's unlikely to coach in the future.

Nancy Lieberman

The NBA, therefore, seems the most likely contender for a future head coach.  For starters, women generally tend to do well as coaches in the WNBA, and some women (still WAY too few) have experienced success in the collegiate and development leagues.  Nancy Lieberman is probably the most likely contender at this point to make it to the NBA as a coach.  She brought the Texas Legends to the playoffs before taking some time off from her coaching career.  Pat Summitt, as well, is currently in retirement but was one of the most successful basketball coaches in NCAA history (regardless of gender).  Other women such as Bernadette Maddox, Stephanie Ready, and Jennifer Johnston have all had some success in coaching college-level men's basketball, but it says something that I have to stretch to find only three women in this field.  Hopefully Lieberman, who was most on-track to being the first woman to break this glass ceiling, will return to competitive sports soon.

And we'll end it there for our giant Friday article.  What are your thoughts on the Yellen nomination and the glass ceilings listed?  Which do you see as the first to be broken?  And what am I missing?  Share in the comments!