[Sim]

That such a topic is possible at all probably means the strife for equal rights of men and women is not over yet ... however, there are elections in Germany this sunday, and she is most likely to win:



Angela Merkel, conservative candidate for Chancellor.


For the first time in German history, a woman would lead the country. Other countries already had female leaders, such as Norway, Israel, India and of course Britain ...



... who would forget (in-)famous Margaret Thatcher?


So what do you think? Does it make a difference if a woman leads a country? Are their policies different or is their style of governing different from "male leadership"? Or is this whole question sexist and it doesn't make any difference at all?

[Jason Vines]

I don't believe substantial differences would exist between a male and a female leader. Maggie Thatcher showed women can be just as tough and logical as any man.

The question isn't sexist, because men and women are different. Questions about divergent leadership styles are therefore rational.

Something I find ironic, though: The female leaders, or potential female leaders, highlighted in this thread are conservatives. Popular thought would indicate leftist parties would be more likely to produce women leaders, but they've instead come from the right. It puts the lie to the notion right-wingers are sexist goobers.

[Yoda]

I have been reading about her. I think it is a great idea. Anything would be better than what you have now.

[Sim]

Yoda, on Sep 15 2005, 03:30 PM, said:

I have been reading about her.  I think it is a great idea. Anything would be better than what you have now.
<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I strongly disagree.

Schr?der's bilance as Chancellor isn't all that bad, and I'd like to see him reelected!

[Sim]

Jason Vines, on Sep 15 2005, 03:27 PM, said:

Something I find ironic, though: The female leaders, or potential female leaders, highlighted in this thread are conservatives. Popular thought would indicate leftist parties would be more likely to produce women leaders, but they've instead come from the right. It puts the lie to the notion right-wingers are sexist goobers.
<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I don't know about the US or Britain, but in Germany, it was the liberal "revolution" of society in the late 60s/early 70s that prepared society for a female leader. It is an achievement of the left that today, it's considered as absolutely normal that a woman runs for Chancellor. But I agree, it's ironic that after decades of political work on the left, a conservative woman is the first to reap what the left had seeded. It shows that conservatives too are not unaffected by the changes society is going through with time.

Another indication is the fact that the Prime Minister of the German state of Hamburg is gay, although he is conservative - but unlike his Berlin counterpart from the left, he didn't have his outing in public, so many people don't even know it (yes, the two largest German cities are governed by gay Prime Ministers).

This post has been edited by Sim: 15 September 2005 - 10:35 AM

[Jason Vines]

I'm definitely not claiming female liberation stemmed from conservatives. But, to hear modern leftists speak, right-wingers today still reject equality of the sexes, while left-wingers champion it more than anyone. That makes the rise of conservative female leaders, before we've had ones from the left, ironic.

[Sim]

Another interesting detail in regards of equality of the sexes is the example of communist East-Germany.

Even when West-Germany was extremely conservative in the 1950s and 60s, East-German women were more or less forced into employment and carreers, while the state was taking care for the children. It was no problem at all to have a carreer as a woman as well as having children.

Still today, 15 years after the Fall of the Wall, nursery schools are totally common in the East, while there are way too few of them in the West. East German women are still profiting from communist policies. There were hardly women in the communist East-German leadership, though.

Considering this background, maybe it isn't so surprising that the first woman to run for Chancellor originates from East-Germany.


So real West-German "rednecks" have a real problem this time: When they want to vote for the right, there only is a *woman* and even from the *east" - both are not exactly preferred attributes for real West-German machos. Maybe this will cost the conservatives the one or the other vote, but probably they'll win even more female votes.

This post has been edited by Sim: 15 September 2005 - 02:14 PM

[Jason Vines]

Related to this topic:

Merkel's conservative Christian Democrats might be forced to make a coalition with leftist Social Democrats. (For those who don't know, winners must take a majority of the vote, over 50%, to control the government. If no party wins a majority, then parties can form coalitions with each other to add up to a majority.)

I suppose this isn't much weirder than one party controlling the American presidency while the other dominates Congress.

[Sim]

It looks like the only probable coalition is a "Big Coalition" by both large parties, Christian Democrats and Social Democrats.

Neither the small "Red-Green" coalition (Schr?der's current coalition) of Social Democrats and Green Party has a majority, nor Merkel's favored "Black-Yellow" coalition of Christian Democrats and center-right Free Democrats, because the ex-communist "Left Party.PDS" is in the middle, neither side wants to make a coalition with them.

Imagine a US President is forced to form a mixed government with ministers of both parties, Democrats and Republicans - that is what's most likely going to happen now.