Women make up 52 percent of the U.S. population, but no woman has ever served as the country’s president, vice president or White House chief of staff.

The White House Project was created to raise awareness of women’s leadership in politics and to help change the pattern of male governmental leaders. The project is a nonprofit, non-partisan public awareness effort.

“This is the first project of this nature,” said Rachel Adams of Essman Associates, an integrated marketing communications company hired to do the project’s communications in the state of Iowa.

“Iowa is one of the 12 states involved with the White House Project,” she said.

The White House Project’s goal is to distribute 65,000 ballots across the state of Iowa and one million ballots nationwide, Adams said.

The ballot consists of 20 candidates from a variety of different fields, including Hillary Rodham Clinton and Elizabeth Hanford Dole, and there are no voting requirements.

“The ballot introduces names of possible women candidates and have people thinking, ‘Who would be a good female candidate,'” said Diane Bystrom, director of the Carrie Chapman Catt Center.

Bystrom said this ballot is know as the Ballot Box Initiative, which is giving people the opportunity to learn about and vote for five women who may have the capacity to lead the country.

The results of the Ballot Box Initiative will be announced in January 1999, Adams said.

“Our 10-year goal is to have a woman president by 2008,” she said.

Marjie Muehlig, White House Project intern, said she hopes the project will change the future of women’s politics.

“Even as a child, I was interested in politics, but I never, ever thought that I could be president of the United States,” Muehlig said. “So I just hope that this project might make one little girl think that she would have the opportunity to be president.”

Bystrom also hopes this project will help change women’s politics.

“Hopefully this will get people thinking by planting seeds in people’s minds about a woman president,” she said.

For any one interested in voting, mail-in ballots are available at the Carrie Chapman Catt Center, and on-line ballots are on the Internet at www.thewhitehouseproject.org. People can also call 1-900-288-6881 for more information. The deadline for voting is Nov. 15.