Have We Feminized the State Department?

When news broke that President-Elect Barack Obama planned to nominate Hillary Clinton for Secretary of State, analysts instantly latched on to the tired narrative of the Obama/Clinton primary wars while simultaneously wondering what kind of damage, or assistance, Bill would bring to the nomination process.  What has been missing in the dissection of the Clinton nomination is to what extent her gender may have played a role in her nomination.  For all the talk of gendered politics in the election season, I'm a bit surprised by the silence on this point now.

Assuming Clinton gets confirmed for the post, and that is a pretty safe assumption, then three of the last four Secretaries of State have been women with Colin Powell the lone exception.  The Secretary of State, in partnership with the Secretary of Defense, coordinates the execution of American foreign policy.  Importantly, the Secretary of State is the "face" of US foreign policy, the lead diplomat and the go-to person for US foreign interests.  

Now, Clinton is no doubt a good choice for this role-- she is the ultimate pragmatist and an outstanding advocate.  She will push the Obama Administration's foreign policy with grace and zeal.  She brings instant credibility and a hawkishness that should appease some of the more centrist of the Obama constituency.  As a Senator she's proven she can craft compromises and get things done.  All of those accomplishments would also make Clinton an excellent Secretary of Defense, but that possibility, or the possibility of any woman taking the reigns at Defense, is apparently non-existent.  Why is that?

I can't help but think we've developed a gendered default for the roles of Secretary of State and Secretary of Defense.  The skills that make one a good diplomat seem to skew female and may inform our presumptions about who would be a good fit more than we realize.  Clearly this country is comfortable with a woman as it's lead diplomat, but I wonder when it will be comfortable with a woman in charge of it's armed forces?