By David Pisarra

For 30 years, the phrase “You’ve come a long way, baby” has meant Virginia Slims cigarettes and was social shorthand for the advances that women had made in becoming equal to men in our society. That growth in equality has continued to the point where women can now be just as boorish, self-centered, hedonistic, egocentric and condescending as men.

This great leap forward in female freedom was exhibited this past week by two of our nation’s greatest examples of womanhood — Dr. Condoleezza Rice, current Secretary of State, and Senator Barbara Boxer were trading barbs over the role that Dr. Rice plays in defending the President’s decision to send more troops to Iraq.

Dr. Rice, a single woman with no husband and no children, was described by Sen. Boxer as someone who will not be paying the price for sending our troops into the ongoing Iraq situation (Is that an occupation? Civil war?).

Sen. Boxer did at least own up to the fact that she too will not be paying the price, as her children are too old and her grandchildren are too young to fight.

It is a clear example of the societal bias that still plays out in sometimes subtle and sometimes not-so-subtle ways. In essence, Sen. Boxer was saying that Dr. Rice was not as qualified to make the case for war because she has no ‘skin in the game,’ which is a subtle way of saying that she is not a complete woman.

I think that is patently unfair.

Even though I don’t like the Republican party, and I don’t have kids, I don’t think those are prerequisites to being able to discuss whether the actions taken by either Republicans or parents are appropriate.

One certainly doesn’t need to be a parent to know that you have to change a baby’s diaper with alarming regularity, much like politicians, and for the same reasons.

Historically, women have not been in the positions of power in our country. That is slowly changing. The much talked about possibility of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton is bringing the issue of women’s role in our society to the forefront. Many are saying that the nation is not ready for a woman to lead, others are saying that we are well overdue.

Personally, I believe a good woman president could do much to force this country to face the issues that need to be addressed. Issues such as subtle bias, bigotry and the pervasive sniping of the political parties could hopefully be opened and addressed by a new thinking about the role women can play in our government.

I’d like to see more women in the Senate, and hopefully, they could bring a sense of greater purpose to the halls of power. Perhaps the ability of women to see greater opportunities than men could bring about the breakthroughs we need in the Middle East, the Asian theater and on such important global topics as the environment, health and population control.

But, then I read about the sniping between Senator Boxer and Secretary Rice and I think, maybe women are just as narrow-minded and biased as men. Maybe it doesn’t really matter that they are women, maybe it is the fact that they are political creatures, and will say and do just about anything to get into, and to stay in, power.

After all, when the Equal Rights Amendment was being circulated it failed to pass; and this, in a country where women comprise more than 50 percent of the voters. Maybe women can be just as bad at working together as men can be.

For Sen. Boxer to imply that Dr. Rice is not qualified because she is single suggests that only married people are capable of seeing the tremendous loss of life. Frankly, that displays a chauvinism that harkens back to the Archie Bunker days. It is this sort of political haymaking that makes everyone a loser.

The senator ends up looking foolish and Dr. Rice becomes the martyred poster child for single women. In a world where women have run England, Israel, India, Germany and a host of other major countries, this political fighting based on someone’s marital status is unseemly and petty.

So, on the one hand, women have come a long way by being in the halls of power, on the other, they seem to have picked up the bad habits of the men, rather than being the standard bearers for a better way.

I guess there is still a long way to go.

David Pisarra is a business development lawyer for the Santa Monica firm Pisarra & Grist. He can be reached at dpisarra@pisarra.com.