There have, of course, been great women leaders in the past. From the time of the Warrior Queen Boudicca to the Golden age of Queen Elizabeth, they have populated our isle, but for most women in Britain and throughout the world, the realm of politics has largely been inaccessible.
The 20th Century saw women gain the vote and the right to enter public office, but the number of women in positions of authority even today, continues to lag behind that of men. Nowhere in the world are even 50% of MPs female. Rwanda, which heads the table, is an exceptional case: 48.8% of Rwandan MPs are female.
With women making up just 19.7% of our MPs, Britain is ranked 14th within Europe and 50th in the world in terms of the percentage of women holding office in the lower, or single House of the national Parliamentary body. It must be pointed out, however, that inroads have been made, with 34.8% of the cabinet being female and a significant number of important positions are filled by females, such as Foreign Secretary (currently filled by Margaret Beckett), and of course, we did have the first elected female leader in Europe, the iron lady herself, Margaret Thatcher.
If, in her era, Mrs. Thatcher appeared something of an anomaly in a world of men, it now seems as if new age is dawning, where global events are increasingly coming under the direction of women. By 2008, we could have a situation where the world’s most powerful and prominent countries are presided over by women.
Elected as Chancellor in 2006, Angela Merkel should still be at Germany’s helm in two years’ time and by then, Ségolène Royal might be Madame la Presidente of France, while the world’s most powerful nation, the United States of America, could be under the rule of either Hilary Clinton or Condoleezza Rice.
With America hegemonic on the world stage and France and Germany dominating Europe, the world would be in the hands of women. At the very least, three of the most influential of the eight member nations that make up the G8 would have female leaders. This would be in sharp contrast to the conspicuous absence of women amongst the leaders who lined up to have their photo taken outside the Gleneagles summit last year.
A new, more feminine form of leadership
Interestingly, many commentators have argued that this rising wave of female leaders has brought with it an evolution in management style. It is maintained that in the past, women aspiring to reach the top had to “become more like men”. They adopted certain characteristics traditionally seen as more masculine than feminine.
A positive view would paint such traits as having the necessary courage to take firm control of a situation, an iron will, the determination to succeed and the drive to see a decision through to the end.
Yet, when given a negative slant these qualities become vices: the markings of an aggressive, authoritarian, pushy and domineering personality.
Previously, softer characteristics, which have been seen as more feminine, appeared to have no place in the cold, hard world of politics. But a revolution has taken place.
Female leaders are showing their feminine side, banishing the excesses of aggressive masculinity and some male leaders are even following suit.
Sharing the load, sharing the credit
Women leaders, it is claimed, are less likely to display the tendency to ‘build empires’ and therefore show a greater willingness to delegate responsibility to others and seek their opinions and advice. Compared with their male peers, they are more likely to pass good ideas to others for development and eventual recognition.
The female, so the theory goes, does not seek glory for herself. Perhaps this explains Condoleezza Rice’s apparent reluctance to openly nominate herself as a presidential candidate.
Women are also supposedly less dominant and aggressive in meetings and conversations. They tend to seek consensus rather than rule by decree, and show a preference for trusting rather than policing subordinates.
In past times, such qualities have been overlooked. Instead, dominant behaviour was the critical selection factor. So a single-minded male, who appeared to have attained success off his own back, was more likely to excel than the “team player” female, who combined a strong focus on achieving results with attention to the growth of the people surrounding them. But now it appears that the latter approach has increased in value.
Ségolène Royal has certainly gone out of her way to emphasise her ability to listen. Mme Royal’s website -
www.desirsdavenir.org - encourages people to send in ideas which will be incorporated in her final political manual. This may be just a marketing exercise but this demonstrates the importance now attached to at least the appearance of searching for consensus over an authoritarian style.
There are many who object to the labelling of this new style of government as female, and simply see it as a less authoritarian, more democratic and a more people orientated method. This may well be the case, but it is clear that at the very least, successful female leaders have couched themselves in the language of this new, more caring style.
Mother of the nation
What perhaps gives females the edge over males in the competition to seem more concerning and considerate is the ability to play the mother role, and thus appear more motivated by principles than power in itself (whether this is true or not).
Compassion, tolerance, nurturing - are all qualities one would traditionally associate with motherhood. A female politician can claim that as she does in her own household, she will listen, try to accommodate the conflicting needs of all entrusted to her care and knows how to prioritise and negotiate in the least confrontational manner possible. In a new world of touchy-feely politics, women’s supposed heightened emotional sensitivity gives them the upper hand.
Interestingly, three of the four successful female politicians featured in this article, were involved early on with what might be termed “social care” issues such as the family, women, education and the environment.
As first lady, Clinton won recognition for her commitment to children’s issues, and was appointed by her presidential husband to head a Task Force on National Health Care Reform. Royal, as Vice-Minister for Education, became known for her campaign against the exposure of children to violent television shows. Both women have made the most of opportunities to publicize themselves as good mothers.
Although childless herself, Merkel was Minister for Women and Youth from 1991-1994 and Minister of the Environment from 1994-1998.
Qualities that aid the triumph over obstacles
The ability to appear compassionate is an important ingredient in the recipe for success, but on its own, it is not enough.
Published 10 years ago, Laura A. Liswood’s book Women World Leaders contains interviews with 15 great female leaders conducted by the author, herself a lawyer and international advocate of women’s rights. Many of her subjects are notorious iron ladies such as Margaret Thatcher and Benazir Bhutto. If today’s politicians have an added softer touch, much of Liswood’s observations as to what made her interviewees succeed remain just as relevant and can easily be identified in Clinton, Merkel, Rice and Royal. “First and foremost it takes great courage to want to and to agree to lead a country. It’s just not something that every person is willing and capable of doing, [it] doesn’t necessarily mean that you turn out to be a great leader, it just means that you have the courage to stand up in front of a crowd and have your ideas attacked and your person attacked,” says Liswood. One of the criticisms Rice has had to face is her support for the Iraq war and her perceived distancing of herself from the Black community.
These women may need to appear gentle and kind but they also have “to develop a tough skin.” Especially in today’s world where a politician’s personal life becomes fair game for the media, it takes a lot of guts to put ones self under the spotlight. Without a certain amount of hardness, any politician will crack under the extreme pressure that they are likely to come under. While First Lady, Hilary Clinton had already proved herself able to cope with the invading eye of the media as she weathered the storm of the Monica Lewinsky affair.
Confidence and projecting a positive image of oneself also play a vital role in success. Being a good team player does not exclude making sure one’s achievements are recognised. Modesty does not create opportunity. A successful politician will identify their own strengths, capitalize on them and inform others of the results they have obtained.
The need to “seize the moment” is crucial. Even with the right personality and capability, one needs to be in the right place at the right time and recognise “the importance of the critical moment” - however slim the chances. Merkel’s position as Chancellor was not guaranteed by her narrow win at the polls, she had to tenaciously hold on to victory through three weeks of negotiations with the incumbent Schroeder, in order to form a stable government.
But it is not simply a case of luck, the best advice an aspiring politician could take is to get involved as early as possible, to get the practice, to learn to stand up and speak in front of people and to take one’s ideas and articulate them to the people. This is something Clinton did as First Lady, rather than simply staying in the wings.
Hard work, optimism, tenacity and the ability to not be easily discouraged in the face of obstacles allowed these women to break through barriers. Royal, for example, turned the chauvinistic cat-calling that would have put off many female politicians, into an advantage.
Snowball effect
Such qualities as listed above will always be necessary to political success, but what makes a significant difference to encouraging more women to grasp the reins of power is the example of other successful female politicians.
Women have not been socialised as leaders. Young girls grow up with fairytales of maidens waiting to be rescued by their Prince. He is the leader while she sits at home. Girls and women alike just simply haven’t been encouraged to become leaders.
Positive discrimination and quotas might help, but they are useless if there isn’t the basic inspiration in place.
It is worth noting that the first female President of Iceland, Vigdís Finnbogadóttir found, after eight years of her rule, that young children thought only women could be presidents. “The boys had to ask if they could be could be President.”
Whatever the outcome of the next American and French elections, whether women come to rule the world in 2008, or whether they continue to play a significant part, if a smaller one in comparison to men, the examples of Merkel, Royal, Clinton and Rice will hopefully serve to inspire a new generation of female politicians.
ANGELA MERKEL
Christian Democrat Union (CDU) leader Angela Merkel became Germany’s first woman chancellor after scraping a victory in the September 2006 election.
She is also the youngest person to be chancellor since the Second World War and will become the second woman to chair the G8 on 1st January 2007, where she will no doubt make use of her ability to speak English and Russian fluently.
Born in 1954 to a teacher and a Lutheran pastor, she grew up just north of Berlin, in the communist German Democratic Republic.
Holder of a physics doctorate from the University of Leipzig, Merkel joined the CDU in 1990 and became minister for Women and Youth in Helmut Kohl’s cabinet. She moved to the post of minister for the Environment and Reactor Safety, which gave her a larger platform on which to build her political career. As one of Kohl’s protégées and the youngest in his cabinet, he affectionately nicknamed her “das Mädchen”.
“The girl” later disassociated herself from her mentor when it become clear that Kohl was implicated in a party financing scandal and replaced his hand-picked successor, Wolfgang Schäuble as party chairman.
Last year’s extremely close elections saw Schröder and Merkel both claim victory, but after three weeks of negotiations, the two parties reached a deal whereby Merkel became chancellor.
SÉGOLÈNE ROYAL
Ségolène Royal is a prominent member of the French Socialist Party and, according to most opinion polls, is a top presidential candidate for the 2007 elections,
Mlle Royal was born in Senegal in 1953. Daughter of a French army colonel, she grew up in France and is a graduate of the highly selective Institut d’Etudes Politiques of Paris and the even more competitive École nationale d’administration (ENA). Graduates of ENA hold a near monopoly on high positions in the French state.
Until last year, this 53-year-old mother of four was just another middle ranking Socialist politician, having previously been Minister of the Environment and Vice-Minister for Education and for Family and Childhood.
She was catapulted into the spotlight after the suggestion that she should run for president was met with chauvinistic scorn from a fellow party member, Laurent Fabius, who scoffed, “who would look after the children if she went for the presidency?”
Although Royal has the solid support amongst the population at large the question now is whether the grass roots of the party will vote for her in November. Many of the old guard either view her as a lightweight or are suspicious of her centrist tendencies - she has, for example, suggested taking benefits away from neglectful parents.
She also faces the prospect of running against her life partner and the father of her children, François Hollande, who is also a potential socialist party candidate.
HILARY RODHAM CLINTON
Hilary Rodham Clinton is the wife of Bill Clinton, the 42nd President of the United States and was First Lady during his two terms from 1993 to 2001.
A senior politician in her own right, serving in the Senate for New York since 2001, Senator Clinton always uses the family name of Rodham as well as her married name.
The first First Lady to hold a postgraduate degree (from Yale), the first to have her own successful professional career (as a lawyer) and the first to win election to public office, Clinton has been considered by many in the press and in politics as the early front-runner in the race for the Democratic Party presidential nomination in 2008.
Previously the focus of media attention for all the wrong reasons, she refused to confine herself to the role of the faithful wife who stuck by the cheating president.
Before and since obtaining the position of Senator, she has been a consistent campaigner for women’s rights, healthcare and job creation.
Senator Clinton is yet to make an official bid to run for president, concentrating on getting re-elected as Senator for New York first, but numerous unofficial websites such as
www.votehilary.org have began canvassing for her and the Senator may already be preparing the groundwork for a campaign.
Since expressing an interest in running for president, Clinton began what some see as a move to the political centre, distancing herself from some liberal issues such as gay rights and showing support for President Bush over Iraq.
CONDOLEEZZA RICE
Rice is the current United States Secretary of State. She is the second woman and the first African American woman to serve in this position.
Previously a Professor of political science at Stanford University, Rice was already playing an important role in American foreign politics at just 35 years of age. In 1989, she took up the role of Director for Soviet and East European Affairs during the period of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the final days of the Soviet Union.
Prior to reaching the dizzying heights of Secretary of State in November 2004, she played the significant role of National Security Advisor from 2001.
Entrusting the role of top US diplomat to her after Colin Powell’s resignation, Bush, who calls his trusted advisor by her nickname “Condi”, said, “Condi’s appointment as Secretary of State marks a remarkable transition in what is already a career of outstanding service and accomplishment.”
Already named the world’s most powerful woman by Forbes magazine in 2005, there are many who wish to see Condoleezza assume the role of the world’s most powerful person, as president of the USA.
In spite of Rice’s denials of any presidential aspirations, many polls show her as the number one most desired Republican nominee and she has avoided stating that she would not run under any circumstances. Indeed, many of her associates have claimed she would be willing to run for presidency if she were drafted into the race and several grassroots websites such as
www.rice2008.com are working towards this goal.
