WAGS to witches - women in power

There is a perception of women in power as being hard, ruthless and heartless. Yes, a lot of them are. They had to be to get the power. And oddly enough, a lot of the names we all know come from East – not the officially liberal and equal West (apart from Thatcher, and lately Merckel). Benazir Bhutto, Western-educated and twice Prime Minister of Pakistan, springs to mind. She may or may not have run a corrupt government and it may or may not have been a sham democracy – depending on your political views, but there is no denying that she proved it possible for a woman to rise to the highest political office in a Muslim state. Between her terms in power, she was Leader of the Opposition – also not a post for the shrinking violet the West generally assumes Muslim women to be.

In Burma, we have Aung San Suu Kyi  - possibly the most famous opposition figure in modern politics. Her many years of intermittent house arrest have ensured the kind of global attention to Burma the ruling military junta was probably trying to avoid. She has been influenced by Gandhi’s philosophy of non-violence and Buddhism, and went into politics to promote a democratic model of government. When she was first placed under house arrest, she was offered the alternative of exile. She turned it down.

She has no qualms about making bold statements about the nature of power, fear, corruption (as in the famous “Freedom From Fear” speech) and governmental myopia.

As an Opposition figure, she has not held the reins of power, so it’s difficult to know what kind of leader she would be. But an idea can be formed by the fact that after so many years of struggle, she’s still not discouraged. Finally free (for now), she is still working for democracy and human rights in Burma.

Indira Gandhi remains the longest serving female prime minister, thanks to her 4 terms totalling 15 years in power, during which India went from relying on food aid to exporting food.

But these ladies are just the latest in a long tradition of local queens. After all, when the Roman Empire collapsed, it was Queen Zenobia seized control of the Eastern half.

The Prophet Muhammed’s wife Aisha had enough political clout to lead an army into battle againt someone she thought was trying to usurp Muhammed’s place in Islam. Razia  ruled in 13^th Century India, Amina in 16^th century Zaria (Nigeria). In the 17^th century Ottoman empire there was a group of such powerful women they were known as the “sultanate of women.”

All of which just goes to show that if you want it enough, there’s nothing stopping you.