100 Most Powerful Women

The Forbes list of the world's 100 most powerful women recently. I was encouraged to look through them and see so many women from countries other then the US. One of the most striking things was that there were many women who are Presidents/Prime Ministers/Chancellors of their respective countries. This topic has become a bit of debate as some of us eagerly anticipate the change in Presidency for our neighbours to the south... Of course, we stand in pride over the fact that we have, in fact, had a female leader - for less then a year - but we've done it nonetheless. However, the US seems no closer to breaking this barrier. We wonder if Hilary has the momentum to do this - to break through the Whitehouse glass ceiling.

I also wonder - is this such a big deal around the world? Do we, in North America, make more of an issue of gender differences then other countries like China, Bangladesh, Germany, South Korea, Finland, Britian, all of whom have had female leaders. Are we more "backward" in this respect - or have we created leadership positions that don't allow women to aspire to them? Or are we lacking in female leadership? Or are our women smart enough to figure out that they will be more successful and happy by leading companies and organizations rather then countries?

Do we, in Canada, have any women in politics who might actually aspire to the Prime Minister position? If not - then why?