Monday, January 16, 2006

Women Presidents -- Go Chile!

Mikaela says:
Chile has elected its first female president, voting 53 to 47 against a billionaire representative of the old guard globalist businessmen.

From the Washington Post:

"You know that I have not had an easy life, but who has had an easy life?" Bachelet told supporters Sunday night during a victory speech in downtown Santiago. "Violence entered my life, destroying what I loved. Because I was a victim of hate, I have dedicated my life to turn that hate into understanding, into tolerance and, why not say it, into love."
...
With Bachelet's election, Chilean voters continued a region-wide trend toward the political left in national elections. The most recent presidential elections in Brazil, Venezuela, Argentina, Uruguay and Bolivia have brought liberal or socialist candidates to power, creating two distinct groupings of leaders in South America. In countries such as Venezuela and Bolivia, the prevailing political discourse questions the benefits of free-trade agreements and encourages more independence from U.S. government and business interests. Bachelet, however, is expected by analysts to fall into the second grouping, represented by fiscally conservative presidents who aim to direct government spending toward social programs.
...
"Many here think Chile doesn't have a soul and has very little sensitivity for its people," said Raul Sohr, a political analyst in Santiago. "There's been a lot of growth in recent years, but the distribution of income is still appalling. A lot of people are hoping that she'll put a little heart into the very technocratic changes that previous administrations have made."


This last quote has me squirming just a little bit. Isn't it just a stereotype of women that if we have any strengths as leaders, it's because of our motherly hearts? Can't we just have good politics, toughness, and the strength of our convictions to do the right thing and win the hearts and minds of others?

I watched a documentary last night about Shirley Chisholm's historic bid for President of the United States in 1972. She certainly did NOT come across as motherly, nor did she argue that being a woman was a political asset on any level. She just used her considerable brain power and articulateness to argue for what she believed. As a person. That's a woman I can get behind.

Last week, I was at the Frontier and heard a young woman, a Republican, adamantly and repeatedly stating to her boyfriend that "in our lifetimes, a woman will NOT be President." He seemed to think otherwise, and it was unclear because of her tone whether she thought that was wrong. It seemed more like she herself had bought into the argument that women should NOT be in positions of power, Republican or Democrat.

It was a little eerie because perhaps 10 years earlier, also at the Frontier (life is so ironic at times, no? Stranger than fiction...), I also argued that a woman could not be President of the U.S. I said, maybe if she's single, but if she has a husband? It will never happen. And children? Forget it. My youthful arrogance made me rather ... um ... forceful in my ignorance. A man who had been sitting nearby slipped me a napkin as he left in what I imagine now was a bit of disgust. The napkin read: "Margaret Thatcher?" Oof. Right. Married. Kids. Powerful leader of the arguably the second-most powerful nation on earth. Hmmm... Immediate reassessment as I was put firmly in my place.

Watching Shirley Chisholm, the first serious female candidate for President and certainly the first (and only?) serious Black woman candidate for President, what struck me is the shame that her effort to make room for other people of color and women to run for the highest office has not been taken up more than it has. And why not? Thirty years later, it's still all but unimaginable? As Chisholm said, why is it always "white men, white men, white men"?

What is it that women can bring to leadership, if not their motherly hearts? What about the ability to see into the blind spots? What about the ability to speak for those too long silent, too long marginalized, too long disempowered, too long badly represented by white men white men white men?

Good for Chile for making room for a new leader. Here's hoping they can outsource the political model as part of a new U.S. trade agreement.