We should remember part of the appeal of McLaughlin had nothign to do with the fact she was a woman:

She had been a social worker and was new to politics. As an outsider she was considered to owe nobody and it was thought that she would be seen as having wider appeal. She also did not come from a big province so was the compromise candidate- not Western (even though Yukon is to the West), not Eastern etc.

When she took over there was a lot of hope for her in some circles. People did not want to pay attention to the fact that she lacked the ability to contect to an audience either on TV or in person.

She was on the otherhand a very intelligent person-- perhaps to nice to be in politics, without the skills we need in politicians that sometimes become annoying.

Remember the time-- Brian Mulroney was in power-- people had begun to hate him. They hated his smoothness, the very skills she lacked. She was the anti-politician. Yes it was a mistake, it turns out you need those skills. She was the NDP's Stephane Dion. the kind of person you would like to have in politics but who gets eaten alive. That she was also a woman had some people believing that women lacked those skills. As it turns out, they don't. Audrey was exactly what we thought we needed at the time. It is important that we remember the context.

If we speak of leadership, then maybe we should look at the skills generally. Layton has the smoothness of Mulroney and while he makes his point, for many he is not particularly liked or believed. Audrey was the opposite and lacked the skill to win people over by speaking (for the level she was at- she likely is better than most of us but politics is an elite sport). Barrett had the power and strength of oration but with a humility and humanity that engages so that you feel what he is saying more than be impressed at his skill. He made it look easy (Layton makes it look hard and that he is good at it). Layton I think is highly skilled but likely a little shy- the skill is a coping mechanism- at least that is how it seems to me.

People like Barrett, McCurdy, Langdon, Lewis they had the combination of confidence, skill and obvious humanity and humility. That is what you need and these gifts are rare.