Sunday, October 9, 2016

Gender in politics: are female leaders patently beter than male ones?

Historically, most female leaders were veritable harpies, often outdoing their male colleagues  to  nastiness and cruelty: Margaret Thatcher, Indira Gandhi, Golda Meir, Christina Fernandez, Marine Le Pen, Yingluck Shinawatra, Condoleeza Rice, Madeleine Albright, etc. ad nauseam. The much-lauded Hillary's record too is that of a tough-balls hawk too. And don't even get me started on female role models in business. 

Gender is not a decisive factor when it comes to what  political decisions one will make. In fact, expecting "typical" feminine qualities, such as all-embracing peace-loving care, motherly loving, softness, etc., from female leaders is the worst kind of sexism. Assuming that female leaders would be somehow different from their male counterparts suggest that women intrinsically have a different "nature" than men. That kind of assumptions belong to the "Women are from Venus, men are from Mars" kind of tabloid literature. Gender in politics and generally in life is much more complex than simplistic dualisms. Gender equality is worth fighting for but let's see what kind of people we elect to govern us.

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