Remember what people say about how things will be more peaceful if women ruled the world? It does not praise women; it promotes the treatment of men and women as two difference species. It plays on the world-wide stereotype of genders that women are soft and gentle while men are rough and harsh. Look at some women who have held, or run for, power, especially in the US and UK in recent history, and the statement loses all its credibility. Sarah Palin ran, and lost - thank God! - for vice president of the US on Senator McCains ticket. (Although, I do wonder now, has it made any difference?) As a person who holds her infamy in the highest regard, I am not going to comment on how she could not have made the world a more peaceful place. Hillary Clinton is expected to run for US presidency, has her time as Secretary of State been any more peaceful than Dick Cheneys? (Okay, thats unfair. No one can beat Cheney; his blood-lust is in a class of its own.) But, just look at the statements shes making right now, for example, about Israels bombardment of UNRWA schools, about Iraq, about Libya. Margaret Thatcher wasnt your regular guardian angel of all oppressed people either. She refused to fully support the US-led sanctions on USSR after its invasion of Afghanistan, closely aligned herself with the Cold War policies of US president Ronald Reagan, supported the Khmer Rouge (For Heavens sake!), and, following in suit with other western leaders, rejected the BDS of South Africas apartheid regime and dismissed the ANC as your regular terrorist group. I am not attempting to disregard these womens positive contributions - except Palin. To be honest, I dont think she has contributed much, except to the Republican Tea Party; my point is, when they thought it fit, these women have been as conniving and warmongering as any other male politician. Female politicians are not different from male politicians; they all are human. Women, just like men, can be rough and tough when they deem it necessary; and men men, just like women, can be soft and gentle when they deem fit - especially if we were to remove the social pressure on them to be otherwise. As long as it is human to thirst for power, female politicians, too, will be susceptible to compromising on their stated principles in order to achieve wealth, power and political capital.
Posted on: Mon, 18 Aug 2014 10:16:53 +0000