The world’s power women

Angela Merkel will soon be walking away into the sunset after 16 remarkable years of governing Germany. It is a testimony to her leadership that her career ends on the positive note that she is among the very few western politicians whose voice was heard with respect around the globe. As she leaves office, she can rightfully claim a place in post-Second World War German history beside such earlier giants as Konrad Adenauer, Willy Brandt, Helmut Schmidt and Helmut Kohl. Merkel has been hugely symbolic of woman power in our times. Her leadership will be missed, for those who will follow her, either among her party or the opposition, will have been in her shadow for long. It is hard for politicians to emerge from the shadow of leaders who have stayed long and stayed powerful.

Merkel represents a global generation of women who have had a powerful impact on society, indeed on their nations, through their assertive presence in local politics and sometimes beyond that. Michelle Bachelet, having bravely struggled for a restoration of democracy in her native Chile before serving as its President, is today an influential voice around the world as United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. A similar case is to be argued for Bangladesh's Sheikh Hasina, whose protracted struggle in opposition for an end to army dominance of politics was followed, once she made it to power as Prime Minister, by a systematic programme of rolling back the wrongs perpetrated by illegitimate military and quasi-military rule for twenty one-plus years. Her success in bringing the assassins of her father and Bangladesh's founder Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman to justice have earned her a place in history. Today she continues to serve as the most powerful head of government in her country's history.

Brazil's Dilma Rousseff, despite the questionable nature of her impeachment and conviction by parliament, is an epitome of a woman subjected to torture by military regimes (she was hung by her feet in prison and regularly beaten) and yet emerging free to provide purposeful leadership to her people. Argentina's Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner served as a powerful President, to the extent that today she serves as her country's Vice President, which again is a hint that she might make a return to the top job in a few years. Since the death of her husband, President Nestor Kirchner, she has occupied centre stage in Argentine politics, in much the same way that the ultra-rightist Marine Le Pen has clearly no intention of leaving the political stage given that she has a very good chance of a rematch with President Emmanuel Macron at the next election. One other powerful woman who has arisen in France of late is Anne Hidalgo, the Mayor of Paris who seeks the presidential nomination of the Socialist Party at the forthcoming election. Might Hidalgo be a restoration of the Francois Mitterrand brand of leadership?

A formidable figure in European politics is the former German defence minister Ursula von der Leyen, who has been President of the European Commission since 2019. Her negotiating skills, especially in light of Brexit, have catapulted her to a global stage that can only be the envy of politicians everywhere. When she leaves the European Commission, she will yet have her country's chancellorship in sight. That is also what one can argue for Mamata Banerjee, the feisty Chief Minister of the Indian state of West Bengal who a few months ago single-handedly beat back the rightwing BJP election machine in her state. With many of her former Trinamul Congress followers returning to the fold and with men like the former BJP minister Babul Supriyo joining her party, Banerjee is well-poised to lead the national political opposition against Narendra Modi at the next election. Banerjee's hold on Bengal politics remains as strong as ever, in a way similar to the grip on US national politics Nancy Pelosi exercises as Speaker of the House of Representatives. Pelosi, having bested Donald Trump, now leads Congress in complicated negotiations over a multiplicity of domestic issues with the Biden administration.

Hillary Clinton, despite her shock defeat at the 2016 presidential election, cannot yet be written off in American politics. Her career as a Senator and then as Secretary of State may not be a catalyst to a political restoration for her, but through her books and through her expertise she remains a voice of neo-liberal American politics. Vice President Kamala Harris, assuming Joe Biden does not seek a second term in 2024, will be required to expend her ceaseless energy into the campaign against whichever Republican challenges her for the White House. Harris is not a woman to fall silent even if she does not make it to the presidency. One can expect her to have a long innings in American politics. In Ethiopia, Sahle-Work Zewde has made the promotion of education and reducing the gender gap the cornerstone of her presidency. She has exercised the power of her office largely away from the limelight, the country being home to a parliamentary form of governance, and today enjoys a well-deserved reputation as a respected national figure.

In Myanmar, the February 2021 coup by the army led to the disintegration of Aung San Suu Kyi's government. She has not been seen or heard from since the generals once more commandeered power, but for all that Suu Kyi's place in her country's history is assured. Her deafening silence during her stint in office on the plight of the Rohingya, more than a million of whom have fled army violence in Rakhine state and found refuge in Bangladesh, has certainly stripped her of her universal reputation as a relentless campaigner for democracy and human rights in her country. Yet it is fear of her on the part of the soldiers which keeps her incarcerated today. They will not commit suicide by letting her return to the sunlight. In North Korea, Kim Yo-jong, the sister of Kim Jong-un, is an influential politician who certainly speaks for Pyongyang on a global scale. She has met South Korean President Moon Jae-in and has lately spoken of the two Koreas making moves toward peace. That is a hint of the power she possesses in a country which remains as mysterious, as sealed off from the outside world as ever. Britain's Priti Patel, as Home Secretary, clearly relishes her job and one will not be surprised if in the near future she makes a bid for 10 Downing Street.

Woman power is the trend today and not merely in politics. In academia, journalism, the arts, literature, women have increasingly been taking the world by storm. Katherine Viner adroitly runs Britain's Guardian newspaper as editor-in-chief. The CNN's Clarissa Ward, the BBC's Lyce Doucet and Al Jazeera's Charlotte Bellis have braved all odds to report from some of the more dangerous spots around the world in our times. The actor Meryl Streep, through her portrayal of different roles on the screen, has been a reminder of her remarkable predecessors in the movie world. Barack Obama honoured her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2014. In India, Aparna Sen and Shabana Azmi remain symbols of the good and the great about artistic enlightenment in South Asia. Romila Thapar and Doris Kearns Goodwin are two of the most remarkable historians in our times.

The list goes on.