January 18, 2006: Headlines: Figures: COS - Cameroon: Journalism: Speaking Out: The Capital Times: Margaret Krome writes: Women leaders abroad offer hope for humanism

Peace Corps Online: State: Wisconsin: February 8, 2005: Index: PCOL Exclusive: Wisconsin: January 18, 2006: Headlines: Figures: COS - Cameroon: Journalism: Speaking Out: The Capital Times: Margaret Krome writes: Women leaders abroad offer hope for humanism

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Margaret Krome writes: Women leaders abroad offer hope for humanism

Margaret Krome writes: Women leaders abroad offer hope for humanism

"I spent nearly three years in Africa in the 1980s being called the Iron Lady, due less to my personal attributes than my name. Margaret Thatcher was the most visible woman in international politics in the 1980s, and my African friends loved calling me Mademoiselle Margaret Thatcher - la Femme de Fer." Journalist Margaret Krome served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Cameroon.

Margaret Krome writes: Women leaders abroad offer hope for humanism

Margaret Krome: Women leaders abroad offer hope for humanism
By Margaret Krome

I spent nearly three years in Africa in the 1980s being called the Iron Lady, due less to my personal attributes than my name. Margaret Thatcher was the most visible woman in international politics in the 1980s, and my African friends loved calling me Mademoiselle Margaret Thatcher - la Femme de Fer.

It was in good fun, but painful that my namesake's politics and values were so contrary to my own and that this international model of women's political power cast herself as a female avatar of militarism, conservative economic policies and heavy-handed treatment of opposing political views. It was an era when a strong woman like Geraldine Ferraro could be laughed off the political scene for showing emotion and, appallingly, Thatcher was held out as the best example of female political success.

Last weekend focused international attention on two exciting, new and much better examples of powerful female politicians.

On Sunday, Liberia swore into office its own iron lady president. Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf became Africa's first elected woman head of state, having beaten a Liberian football star in November's election with 59 percent of the vote. She came into office articulating a peace agenda for her war-scarred country. While she has a reputation for strength, she also asserts the necessity of inclusion, political diversity and tolerance.

Even with her strong victory, Sirleaf faces tremendous - some say insurmountable - challenges. For example, both houses of the Liberian Congress recently elected parliamentary leaders with close ties to warlords or rebel groups; her own candidates for those posts got only a fraction of the votes needed to change Congress' culture of violence. More than two decades of war have left Liberia without running water, electricity, roads or other infrastructure elements essential to its economic and social development.

In a country whose confidence in its political leaders has been shattered repeatedly, Sirleaf faces a long and challenging process to create constructive roles for the country's many combatants and to build public trust. Tough as the prospects are, her election is a testament to hopes that a smart, strong, clear-eyed humanist can forge change.

Monday brought exciting news about another woman political leader in a different part of the globe. Michelle Bachelet, a woman medical doctor and socialist, won over 53 percent of Chile's vote to become president, beating her conservative billionaire business opponent.

The victory of Bachelet, part of the center-left coalition that has governed Chile for 15 years, not only reinforces the growing roster of democratically elected left-leaning leaders in Latin America, but marks major milestones. The third woman elected president of a Latin American country, she's the first elected without following a trail blazed by her husband. Bachelet breaks other political norms. She has held no previous elective office. She's an agnostic in a heavily Catholic country. She's divorced, and she didn't even marry the father of her third child.

Like Sirleaf, President-elect Bachelet will be watched closely. Her ability to hold her own against coalition leaders eager for power is already being challenged, but she has stated her intention to hold the reins firmly, as she did in her recent post as defense minister, to create a government with more diversity, more women and a sensitivity to the needs of poor Chileans. A former victim of political imprisonment and torture, Bachelet talked on her first day as president-elect about the need for social justice as well as economic growth.

Last week, seeing photos of Germany's new conservative chancellor, Angela Merkel, on her visit to the United States, I sighed from the same frustration I felt in the 1980s at the limited models for women politicians. Whether or not Bachelet and Sirleaf surmount the many political obstacles before them, it's exciting to see other countries elect women leaders for their humanism rather than militaristic and conservative economic agendas.

I wonder what would it take for United States voters to be so courageous.

Margaret Krome of Madison writes a semimonthly column for The Capital Times. E-mail: mkrome@inxpress.net


Published: January 18, 2006





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Story Source: The Capital Times

This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; Figures; COS - Cameroon; Journalism; Speaking Out

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