Back in 1984, when Walter Mondale made Geraldine Ferraro the first female candidate on the presidential ticket of a major American party, delegates to the Democratic convention proudly sported green-and-white lapel stickers that read "Woman VP Now."

Twenty-four years later, Republican John McCain is hoping his choice of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate will attract feminist voters of all stripes, including those who still have those old Ferraro stickers stuck away in yellowing scrapbooks.

Surely Palin's presence on the GOP ticket breaks down barriers. But while her startling elevation may represent one giant step for womankind, the McCain-Palin ticket is unlikely to mean even a baby step of progress for individual women.

Consider McCain's dismal record on issues of reproductive freedom:

As a member of the House, he cast 11 votes on reproductive issues; all but one were anti-choice. As a senator, he cast 119 such votes; 115 were anti-choice. In 1999, he opposed a measure to let female soldiers pay out of their own pockets for abortions in military hospitals - even though, in many parts of the world, safe, legal abortions are unavailable elsewhere.

McCain voted for the ban on so-called partial-birth abortions. He supported the gag rule which bars the government from sending money to overseas clinics that even mention abortion as an option for pregnant women, let alone perform the procedure.

In an Associated Press interview last year about the landmark 1973 Supreme Court case legalizing abortion, McCain said flatly, "I do not support Roe v. Wade, period. It should be overturned."

Palin, who calls herself a pro-life feminist, is certainly unlikely to temper McCain's thinking on the issue.

McCain recently opposed the Ledbetter Act, which would have overturned the Supreme Court's restrictions on women's right to sue for paycheck discrimination. He has voted to require parental consent for birth control for teenage girls. He has voted to abolish the federal program that pays for birth control and gynecological care for the poor. He opposed plans to require insurers to pay for prescription contraception, even when they pay for other prescriptions (including Viagra).

In 2005, McCain opposed a measure sponsored by Sen. Hillary Clinton (remember her?) that would have spent significant federal money to reduce teen pregnancy through education and birth control, an approach even many anti-abortion activists can support.

The next president will appoint federal judges and government agency chiefs who will have broad reach over women's lives and health. Beneath all the campaign-season rhetoric about "change" and "mavericks" and shaking up Washington, there are concrete decisions and appointments through which presidents can affect our personal lives, for better or worse.

Clearly, McCain's choice of Palin was calculated in part to attract female voters. But here in the 21st century, "Woman VP Now" falls far short of what American women truly need in a presidential ticket.