Presentation on Politics: Female Political Leaders

Female Political Leaders of the 20th Century

From the twentieth century, women’s rights activists had found enough support that ladies in democracies in Europe and elsewhere gradually gained the proper to vote. In 1919, for example , women were able to elect and be elected for the very first time in Germany, which is a “matter of course” that had been wrongly withheld from women until then. Through the twentieth century, it became increasingly problematic for patriarchate proponents to justify rule over women. In lots of European countries following the Second World War, equal rights were at least recorded in the constitutions.

The movement was composed of numerous associations and organizations that have been founded, light emitting diode, and dominated by women. These women’s associations were engaged in several fields to enhance the situation of women, with which they desired to achieve a general social improvement. Some required a say in municipalities and churches, the recognition of women’s familial benefits, better education and job opportunities for women, and political equality. The others sought to ease the plight of the indegent, organized the care and feeding of working-class kiddies, engaged in better health care bills for women and kiddies, and conducted poor housing and working conditions, state-controlled prostitution, and alcohol abuse. And while Pope Francis considered the form of emancipation that, in order to occupy spaces, it has to remove from the masculine as dangerous, that he did not wish to “reduce maternity to a social role, to a job, albeit noble, but that actually sets the lady aside with her potential and doesn't value her fully in the building of community” (McClory).

Margaret Hilda Thatcher was a British politician and the initial female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1979-1990). She acquired the nickname of the “Iron Lady” due to her drastic economic and social reforms, in addition to her intervention in the Falklands War. Born on October 13, 1925, in Grantham, Lincolnshire, England, she died on April 8, 2013, at the age of 87 in London. The “Iron Lady of the Western world, a Cold War warrior, an Amazon philistine, even a Peking plotter, ” was a figurehead of the economic liberals, and a figure of hatred for the unions: Margaret Thatcher’s politics in the 1980s divided the population ideologically not only in the united kingdom (iconic). The initial woman as British Prime Minister polarizes to this day. Anybody who wants to comprehend the recent history of Britain can't avoid the idiosyncratic politician who fundamentally changed the country and had a thing that is so usually missing today: attitude.

In 1959 she was elected for a London constituency for the very first time as a deputy to the lower house, and rose quickly in the party hierarchy because of her talent. In 1970, the conservative Prime Minister Edward Heath appointed Thatcher as his Minister of Education. Already in this office, she showed her determination to create unpopular decisions. When Thatcher pushed through the abolition of school milk that were freely distributed to all school children in England for 20 years, a media storm broke out but left her unimpressed, as it had made her known nationwide instead (Cordon).

Much more controversial, nevertheless , was her domestic program after the 2nd World War. Thatcher, an established financial expert, fought for a radical reversal in economic policy: away from their state with a debt-financed intervention policy, towards a state of free competition in the sense of monetarism. Her belief in the strength of the in-patient and her distrust of any collectivism culminated in the provocative statement: “And, you know, there's absolutely no such thing as society. There are individual men and women, and there are families” (Brittan). It was like a revolution, a revolution that was deliberately brought about by UK voters from the backdrop of a severe economic crisis of high inflation and unemployment in 1979: On May 3 of that year, Margaret Thatcher was elected the first Prime Minister in britain, an office that she held for more than ten years, until 1990.

When turning to one other part of the world, it becomes evident how female politicians would find their paths to leadership almost simultaneously. Corazon Aquino was the champion of democracy in her homeland, Philippines. In 1986, after 20 years of suppression, she replaced dictator Ferdinand Marcos with a peaceful revolution.

The former housewife stood up for the most popular uprising against dictator Ferdinand Marcos from 1986 to 1992 as President of the Philippines. Her husband, Benigno Aquino, a prominent Marcos opponent, was shot dead in 1983 on his reunite from exile at the airport of Marcos-Schergen (Engel). After the murder, resistance to the dictator grew and culminated in the overthrow of the Marcos regimen. Aquino stood in the leading row of numerous mass protests after the murder of her husband. The alleged election victory, which Marcos had announced right after a completely obscured vote count, led to violent protests. Aquino became a brand new political figure embodying opposition to the Marcos dictatorship.

She released political prisoners from the prisons where her husband have been staying for a long time. But the inexperienced politician was also fighting communist rebels and reactionary coups, rubbing shoulders with a new constitution and agrarian reform (Engel). In 1992, she didn't reappear for election. Because she had brought back democracy to the Philippines, she not only enjoyed great prestige at home, but additionally internationally. The united states news magazine Time made Aquino “Woman of the Year” in 1986, and in 1987 she was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Indira Gandhi isn't related to the famous Mahatma Gandhi. Since 1966, she had been governing India’s largest democracy on earth and was responsible for the nation like a mother. She said the following all through her election campaign, on hundreds of stages through many dusty villages:

…my burden is manifold because crores of my family members are poverty‐stricken and I must look after them. Since they participate in different castes and creeds, they sometimes fight among themselves, and I have to intervene, especially to provide for the weaker members of my family, so the stronger ones do not benefit from them. (Gordon)

At this time, it is worth focusing on to mention that Gandhi’s father initially paved the way to the most effective. Specifically, Jawaharlal Nehru was a devoted freedom fighter and the initial Prime Minister after independence; he had the vision of a socialist state with a particular economic form. Needless to say, Indira Gandhi had been suffering from his worldview and continued his policy. This included five-year plans, bank nationalizations, and the disempowerment of the princes (“The Economics of Indira Gandhi”). This included celebrating the poor and condemning conservatives in their Congress party. The girl who had been mocked as a dumb doll was taking more and more responsible decisions. In 1971, the Indian army beat their archenemy Pakistan within a few days, which resulted in the birth of the country of Bangladesh, which may be considered Indira Gandhi’s biggest triumph.

All through her rule, India achieved international respect, also as a nuclear power, and Indira Gandhi was known as a national hero. But she used her considerable influence for diverse purposes. Thus, as a dictator, she disempowered parliament and the judiciary, censored the press, and arrested critics (Sinha). In 1975, the prime minister took up her last weapon, the state of emergency. She spoke of a conspiracy of hostile forces attempting to throw India into chaos. In fact , there have been protests and strikes nationwide. The reasons were manifold, including inflation, unemployment, starvation, low wages, corruption, and a controversial family policy including forced sterilization (Roychowdhury).

In light of the crucial women that have gained political influence, it becomes evident how the twentieth century has had about the onset of the rise of women to political power, and proving neither better, nor worse, leaders than men. As an alternative, such stories of great female politicians bring home the concept that there is more to a leader than gender; it's about the personality and worldview of anyone, which affects his or her country in terms of politics.

Works Cited

Brittan, Samuel. “Thatcher Was Right – There's absolutely no ‘Society’. ” Ft.com, 2013, https://www.ft.com/content/d1387b70-a5d5-11e2-9b77-00144feabdc0.
Cordon, Gavin. “Thatcher Tried to avoid One of Her Worst Policies Going Even more. ” The Independent, 2016, https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/margaret-thatcher-regretted-snatching-milk-from-school-children-for-two-decades-a7500171.html.
Engel, KeriLynn. “Corazon Aquino, Revolutionary President of the Philippines. ” Amazing Women in History, 2011, https://amazingwomeninhistory.com/corazon-aquino-revolutionary-president-philippines/.
Gordon, Leonard. “Indira Gandhi.” Nytimes.com, 1976, https://www.nytimes.com/1976/07/25/archives/indira-gandhi-a-biography-by-zareer-masani-illustrated-341-pp-new-y.html.
Iconic. “Margaret Thatcher’s Iron Lady Speech. ” 2010, Youtube, 8 Nov. 2010, https://www..com/watch?v=oAgM6YHioxI. Accessed 18 Feb. 2019.
McClory, Robert. “Pope Francis Struggles with Women’s Role. ” National Catholic Reporter, 2013, https://www.ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/pope-francis-struggles-womens-role.
Roychowdhury, Adrija. “Four Reasons Why Indira Gandhi Declared Emergency. ” The Indian Express, 2018, https://indianexpress.com/article/research/four-reasons-why-indira-gandhi-declared-the-emergency-5232397/.
Sinha, Suchetana. “15 Photos from the Emergency, the Darkest Phase in Independent India’s History. ” Scoopwhoop, 2016, https://www.scoopwhoop.com/Photos-Darkest-Phase-Indian-History-Emergency/#.l90z8jez1.
“The Economics of Indira Gandhi.” BW Businessworld, 2015, http://www.businessworld.in/article/The-Economics-Of-Indira-Gandhi/19-11-2015-88463/.