A Milestone of Sorts As Clinton Cracks, But Doesn't Break, the Glass Ceiling

For the legions of American women who saw something of themselves in Hillary Clinton's rise - and even more so in her humbling defeat - it was perhaps the ultimate sadness that she waited until the very end to fully embrace the transformational nature of her run for the White House.

For many women, Clinton's farewell address in Washington DC on Saturday was a moment in feminist history. Gloria Steinem was there, dressed in black in the sweltering heat, and women carrying their newborn daughters in slings.

But until Saturday, when Clinton bowed out and endorsed Barack Obama, she seemed to struggle with the idea that her candidacy was making history. In her 17-month presidential campaign, toughness and experience mattered as much to Clinton as breaking the lock of white males on the White House - until she made that valedictory address.

"When I was asked what it means to be a woman running for president, I always gave the same answer: that I was proud to be running as a woman but I was running because I thought I'd be the best president," she said. "But I am a woman, and like millions of women, I know there are still barriers and biases out there, often unconscious."

Clinton spent much of her campaign showing how tough she was - touting her readiness to answer that 3am phone call as commander-in-chief, threatening to "obliterate" Iran, refusing to apologize for her vote in favor of the Iraq war, knocking back shots of whiskey in working men's bars. Even her own supporters resorted to male stereotypes to talk up Clinton's qualifications. An Indiana senator, Evan Bayh, who supported Clinton, saluted her "testicular fortitude".

"Could a woman really serve as commander-in-chief? Well, I think we answered that one," Clinton said on Saturday.

For many women who turned out to see Clinton exit the race, that strength and tenacity was crucial to Clinton's appeal. They recognized in Clinton's travails their own struggles in the workplace. "I've had a really hard time as a woman being a physician and I give her a lot of credit for keeping going," said Marijane Hynes, 48, an internist from Bethesda, Maryland.

Like many others, she saw Clinton's refusal to quit the race, despite Obama's insurmountable lead, as validation for persevering through difficult times. "You have to be tough in a man's world," said Hynes.

Clinton's misfortune, though, was that 2008 was an election year when change counted for more than the traditionally male attributes of toughness and experience. And in a contest against a younger, African-American man, race, class and age seemed to count as much as gender. The historic nature of her candidacy was lost amid the excitement over Obama's own quest.

At the polling booth, Clinton's command of the women's vote was shaken by Obama's appeal to young and African-American women, as well as wealthy women.

On television, late night comics made endless jokes about trouser suits; South Park did an episode about a nuclear weapon hidden in Clinton's vagina. Novelty shops produced Hillary Clinton nutcrackers and toilet bowl scrubbers. Political pundits said Clinton reminded them of their first wives at divorce court, or caused an instinctive reaction to cross their legs.

"She was marginalized a lot. What we see in corporate America, they treated her the same way," said a 27-year-old lawyer from Philadelphia who took time off from her job to work as an organizer in eight states.

"I think people talk a lot about women being strong, but they don't like to see it - and I think a lot of that went on in this campaign."

The anger at Clinton's treatment by television pundits and late-night comics was not restricted to Democrats.

As Christine Todd Whitman, a Republican who was the first woman governor of New Jersey, wrote in yesterday's New York Times: "The press presented Barack Obama with his two years in the Senate as an agent of change, not a novice. In contrast, ABC's Charles Gibson asked Clinton if she would 'be in this position' if it weren't for 'her husband'."

With Clinton's run for the White House now a matter for historians, Americans have begun to ask whether she will inspire more women to enter politics.

The immediate signs are not that promising. A study last month by the Brookings Institution found that the number of American women entering politics has stalled since the 1990s. At present, women make up only 16% of members of Congress. Only nine of America's 50 states have women governors.

But for Martha Bixby, 25, who wore a badge saying "I can be president" to the rally, maybe Clinton would make it a little easier for future generations of women. "These kinds of steps for women are only going to create amazing opportunities for all women," she said. "I am excited she got so far."

Or as Clinton admitted in her final moments at the center of this extraordinary election year, her campaign had failed to shatter that final glass ceiling. But as she said to a roar of applause: "It's got about 18 million cracks in it."

· Madam President: Is America Ready To Send Hillary Clinton to the White House? by Suzanne Goldenberg is published by Guardian Books at £9.99.