On my plane back from Brussels to Hamburg I observed my co-travellers. It was not a very diverse population. Most of the of the passengers were male, white and wearing a black suit. A small minority was female, mainly consisting of the flight attendants and myself. On earth, like up in the air on an average business-flight, its not that different. The council of Women World Leaders only has 37 members, the United Nations have 192 member states. Only 19,1% of the parliamentarians worldwide is female, and this “gender disparity” should be eliminated by 2015.
I did not dare to engage my male fellow travellers in a discussion about possible reasons for their dominant presence ("so are you the prototypical European technocrat?"). They were all busy eating their recently distributed salmon salad, reading The Economist or taking a nap with their jackets over their heads. So instead I just looked out of the window down to the miniature planet, while having rampant feminist thoughts on how to take over the world.
Ladies with a leading role do well in the media. American business magazine Forbes, decided that 2009’s most powerful woman was the German chancellor Angela Merkel. Why? She scored highest on “visibility by press mentions, the size of the organization being managed, the proximity of the executive to the top and her professional accomplishments.”
But since most of humanity will never make it into any Forbes list, it might make sense not to focus too much on the rich and influential, for a change. There are some cool women on top out there. The list below is extremely random, but the same could be said about Forbes’ selection criteria.
1. Captain Saudamini Deshmukh first female Indian captain of an aircraft. Retired since yesterday.
2. Sara Garrido president of the fisherwomen’s union in Coliumo, southern-Chile.
3. Junko Tabei the first woman to ever reach the top of the Mount Everest in 1975.
4. Margaret Gipsy Moth (1951 –2010), CNN camera woman. In 1992, she got shot and severely wounded in Sarajevo. Multiple surgeries did not stop her covering war and conflict zones.
5. Ruth Flowers DJ. Discovered while spinning at ther grandson’s birthday party. Her first single “Mamy Rock” will be out soon.
6. Malalai Joya Afghan politician. Criticized both the Taliban and the official government, therefore expelled from the parliament. Currently preparing her political comeback.
For more female role models, see http://www.amazingwomenrock.com/
Any other suggestions?
Photo: Mauropm, Flickr
Tegualda Monreal Porcile, 92 years old: Chilean doctor who fought for social justice, first professional in the country to research on abortion doing surveys and interviews. Her investigations were the first step for anti conception policies. Tegualda went on exile during Pinochet’s dictatorship and was never able to see her husband again, because he died while she was in exile. She worked for 10 years in Mozambique and developed policies that are still implemented. She started learning violin 5 years ago, when she was 87 years old. Her life story and pictures here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/spanish/specials/2006/historias_de_mujeres2/newsid_4771000/4771186.stm
Our former Irish President, former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and Director of Realizing Rights, Mary Robinson always does it for me. She’s an amazing woman and never gives up hope.
I would add Soeur Emmanuelle, both a French and Belgian nun, who died in 2008 at the age of 99. She was simple, modest and dedicated her life to poor people, mostly in Egypt but also in many others countries.
Leymah Gbowee- Liberian women’s rights activist
http://jezebel.com/5511820/erykah-badu-and-the-liberian-sex-strike
Interesting!
I know she’s not everyone’s cup of tea but I think Hilary Clinton is a powerful ambassador for women. She’s intelligent, forthright, successful and seems like a decent person.
Thanks for the suggestions ladies and gentlemen
Thanks to Anquita, another (dubious) candidate for the list:
http://www.theonion.com/video/east-timors-first-female-dictator-hailed-as-step-f,14311/
Wanda Blenska, a Polish missionary and a doctor, honorary citizen of Uganda, spent in Uganda over 40 years healing leprosy and contributing to prevention and diagnosis of leprosis:
http://tropej.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/12/supp3/46
After her the Buluba Leprosy Centre in Uganda was named The Wanda Blenska Training Centre.
Very little information in English, very famous among the Polish Africa geeks