No matter what you think about John McCain’s choice of Sarah Palin for vice president, we all have to admit, it was inspiring to see a woman given props by a male-dominated political establishment.

I got goosebumps for a moment when I was sitting with my husband and children at a local diner listening to McCain’s announcement about Palin.

A woman as a vice presidential nominee. A black man running for the top spot. Who wouldn’t think for a moment that the world is finally changing.

Alas, reality hit hard just a few hours later when I pondered whether a woman in such a high-ranking position in the United States would really do much to shrink the wage gap between men and women, or garner more respect for female-dominated professions like teaching and nursing.

During her speech after McCain announced his pick, Palin talked about finally giving women what they deserve.

“Maybe we can shatter that glass ceiling once and for all,” she said, and the crowd roared.

Having a woman vice president would be a great touchstone for woman, especially young woman who too often don’t think they can attain their career dreams. But women as political figure heads don’t just translate into gains for woman at large.

Look at Germany.

Angela Merkel is the Chancellor of Germany but the country has one of the largest wage gaps between men and women in all of Europe.

This from a New York Times story today:

It is just one of the disparities between working men and women, especially mothers, that government and union leaders say is creating a drag on female participation in the work force and, consequently, on economic growth, at a time when Germany may be teetering on the edge of recession. And they point to a range of societal and governmental barriers that are hindering change.

Ingrid Sehrbrock, deputy chairwoman of the German Federation of Trade Unions, calls German pay inequity a “scandal.” Europe’s commissioner for employment and social affairs, Vladimir Spidla, recently called on German employers “to really apply the principle of equal pay for equal work.”

A clutch of new data suggests that Germany is going in the opposite direction. While the wage gap between women and men is narrowing across the European Union and in the United States, it is stagnant in Germany.

Since 2000, German working women on average have gone from earning 26 percent less than men to making 24 percent less than men in 2006, the last year for which statistics are available, according to data provided by the government statistics bureau, Destatis.

The article talks about the different reasons for the disparity, everything from outright bias to the need for better child care options. The government there has announced plans to help finance child care programs and paid benefits for parents who take time off.

But there’s a bigger problem in Germany, and one that has been swelling in our country as well. There’s been a growth in negativism against woman who have children and choose to continue their careers.

The Germans can be cruel in this regard. This again from the Times:

Mothers who work are sometimes derided as Rabenmutter, or “raven mothers.” The phrase — based on the erroneous belief that ravens fly away, leaving their nests behind — refers to women who pursue careers instead of being homemakers.

While American’s don’t have a catchy name to deride working mothers, we’ve all heard similar sentiments before. Many conservative pundits who are also mothers but have the luxury of working and enjoying their careers, while they tell others they should be staying home with their children, have filled the airwaves for too long.

Unfortunately, Palin herself has come under fire by conservatives who believe she should be staying home and getting her family in order before she tries to take on the job of vice president.

It’s an interesting twist. A devoutly conservative candidate now having to answer to the very group she panders to. But it says something about how far we still have to go before women can be treated as equals. Few have raised the issue of whether her husband could handle those responsibilities at home while she deals with matters of the nation.

Laura Bush seemed to do OK on her own while President Bush was busy running the country.

So don’t expect too much to come from a woman leader. There’s just so much one woman in a sea of men can do. The rest of us will also have to get off our butts and demand what we want, and not feel pressured by people who don’t understand our personal dreams, what ever they may be.

What’s your take? Am I not giving enough credit to a potential female vice president?