Dilma Rouseff was sworn in this Saturday as the first woman president of Brazil, highlighting the trend of women presidents in Latin America, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was there to congratulate her. Rousseff has vowed to open spaces for women at top government levels by appointing more women to her cabinet.
She has already started the trend, with “her security detail [which] is comprised [by] six young women, clad in black and running alongside the car through the downpour” during her inauguration.
Ms. Rouseff is described to be to the left of former popular ex-president Lula da Silva (who was also left), and more of an “ideologue”; nonetheless, she is also recognized as a “pragmatist”. No question she faces great challenges, but she has proven she can change and adapt to tough and changing environments: she was a former Marxist guerrilla, who was jailed and tortured…and now is a powerful player of the political system. She has vowed to continue the economic growth path of her predecessor, and to increase her country internal and external strong position. There are great expectations for Rouseff, and very particularly from women. Hopefully these expectations will translate into support and understanding of her leadership role, and will add to the presence of women leaders throughout the world. In Brazil, people are already yearning for what her role/example will represent for all Brazilian women and girls.
Rouseff joins Latin America’s other first female president Costa Rica’s Laura Chinchilla; as well as Kirschner from Argentina, and Persad-Bissessar from Trinidad and Tobago as female leaders of this continent. The first woman president in the Western Hemisphere (In the American continent) was Isabel Peron, from Argentina, more than 35 years ago, in `1974.
There are currently 18 world Female leaders in the world (see graph below), 4 from the Western Hemisphere. For those of us to whom the pace of women ascendancy to power has been too slow, it is inspiring to see all these faces representing and leading their countries. Yet, women as heads of state represent only 9% of the 192 countries represented in the United Nations. The percentage rises to 15% if queens and other government positions in dependent territories are added.
Yes isn’t it a shame that the woman that was standing there with her from the greatest nation in the world got more of the voters votes isn’t president?
Do you think we could hear more of what Hillary is doing because the MSM does not do much of that unless its something negative or critical. thank you
“Rousseff has vowed to open spaces for women at top government levels by appointing more women to her cabinet.”
Could you imagine the hysterical screaming fits that would ensue from Slacker Dude Nation if a female president said this? They’d fucking freak out. Holy Shit, it’s a slave revolt! They would dig themselves into bunkers and act like it was fucking Armageddon.
You know, the more I look at that list, the more I think about the female security detail thing, and this promise to hire more women in the cabinet, the more I think about the Scandinavian countries just solving the problem by saying, “half women, next question,” the more I think about India, Pakistan, Britain, Israel, etc … the more I just have to come to the conclusion that American men are just fucked the hell up. American women, too — because they continue to put men first and slobber to reap the rewards that American men pile on them for knifing another woman in the back. There is NOTHING that gets a woman more accolades from men in this country than slicing up another woman.
But I’m serious — the goddamned screaming fits from the basement-dwelling Comic Book Guys that comprise 85% of American males would just fucking deafen you if anything like that happened here. It’d be a bloodbath — you think the Montreal shooting and that freaking psycho who shot up women just recently were bad? That lunatic who separated out the little girls in that Amish classroom? American men are goddamned nutcases. And the extremely rare ones who might not be would probably agree with me; they see what it is close up.
This country’s men are just fucked up beyond all hope of salvation.
The thought of seeing these two women embracing each other as the presidents of their corresponding countries also crossed my mind. It would have been exciting!!
Let’s look at the future and build this vision in our country, in all women, men, children’s minds. That’s our mission, to have the sky as the limit for all women, setting the example with a woman president, with women in the board rooms, and in science.
But let’s not lose our energy getting frustrated; let’s use it to build this future.
And a very quick way to move this upgrade of women’s place in society along would be to drive the Corporate Media and their sexist images of women off the planet. We can do this by actively encouraging women to cut the TV Cable subscription and only get the shows they want from the internet or a service like Hulu. Without subsidy from everyones Basic Cable subscription most of the sexist schlock would dry up so our children could grow up strong without the undermining messages of Corporate Media.
Valentina,
I agree with Janis!
I think it’s long past time for women to stop being philisophical about our continued lack of parity with men (even when we are more qualified) and start being angry at how much we’ve lost because of the misogonystic country we live in. Hillary should have been president and if she had been a man, she would not only have won, she would have been praised and honored as a brilliant and savvy politician.
Women have got to come to terms with the reality that until we not only have respect for ourselves and for other women, we will never reach the goals we have been fighting for for hundreds of years.
A couple of days ago, I happened to stop on Jane Valez-Mitchell’s show and she was talking to a man who was head of a group called “Men Against Violence Against Women” or something like that and something he said stuck me to the core as to what we’ve been saying here on TNA and on on other websites, when it comes to women’s issues. He said that men commit violence women because they know they can get away with it. That’s the problem. This group doesn’t let them blame or explain away their behavior and holds them accountable. It’s time to hold men accountable and stop letting them get away with bad and violent behavior. Otherwise, it will never stop.
If not now, when?
Kathleen,
I absolutely agree on accountability.
Looking to the future does not mean that we have to put aside accountability. Nonetheless, one of the things I love about TNA is the assertiveness to address the issues, but without the sense of frustration (even though often many of us feel this sense of frustration). We are trying to build common ground among women and men about the need for women representation. We have to keep focused. We are not asking for it, we have to build it ourselves.
Valentina,
Accountability cannot be achieved without the ability to enforce it and that comes with equality of power.
Now, if you really believe the majority of men who still believe men should hold the lion’s share of power are going to be shamed into doing what’s right, then you are falling into the age-old trap that women always fall into — trying to reason with men like we would a woman. They don’t think like we do. After centuries of conditioning, men have become conditioned to believe in their entitlement and superiority. Everything we see in the images flashed before us through television, movies, books, magazines, advertisement, etc., come from that mental attitude.
To change that is going to take a different strategy, not a different person or group to use the same approach that women have used my entire lifetime to persuade men to recognize that “all women and men were created equal” is a fact and that they must adhere to that “unalienable right given to women as well as men by their creator.”
For women to obtain the unity and commitment necessary for women to change this paradigm will only come if we focus on how to break the chain of complacency and inate subservency women still have towards men is going to take all of our focus. Women aren’t conditioned to focus only on themselves, which is why many still resist the idea of focusing first and foremost on changing women’s conditioned way of thinking and behaving that we must not only respect ourselves, but other women with the same constancy and commitment that men have for each other.
When women are a united force based on this mutual respect and willingness to demand it in ONE voice, I think that’s when men will come to respect us as they do themselves. That’s how men think. They have to respect you before they will listen to you, much less accept you as an equal.
Kathleen, the idea of angry women is the last taboo for us. Seriously. Angry Ladies terrify people — not just men, but everyone. Women, too. It’s the last human emotion that we’re not allowed to feel.
Anger can be used destructively certainly, but so can any emotion. It’s clarifying, motivating, and spurs action. Used properly — raised voice, yelling, table-pounding and all — it can move mountains.
I have no time for people who think that anger is always bad, especially in women. Some of the most petulant, emotionally uncontrolled men I’ve ever known are scared out of their minds by angry women, and some of the most submissive, resigned, lethargic women I’ve ever known — perfect patriarchal handmaidens — are similarly scared.
We’ve got to learn how to be angry constructively. This ice-blooded terror of anger in women does not teach us how to be angry constructively.
I remember going to one of those women’s-spirituality type get-togethers once where this came up in such a vivid way that I never forgot it. I remember we were sitting around and the instructor — one of the submissive, frightened handmaiden types who would insist she was all about accepting women’s energy even though she was anything but — was trying to get us to open up and talk about the ways in which we were squashed when we were younger. It was a bit tense and hesitant, as those sorts of things often are at the beginning as everyone feels the general atmosphere of the group out.
One of the women brought up something like feeling smooshed by the whole “pretty princess” attitude, and we nodded, and I made an offhand comment like, “I got your pretty princess right here, pal!” which for me is quite tame.
The entire atmosphere changed — everyone laughed and started to relax. It was an actual, palpable change int he feeling of the air — people leaned back a bit in their chairs, chuckled, and let go of some tension.
At least until Sister Mary Never Get Angry, the instructor, spoke up and said, “Now now, I’m hearing anger, and we can’t show that. We can’t get angry.” That’s literally what she said.
The entire atmosphere of the place tensed up worse than it was originally as all of these women — who were just starting to relax! — all got called out for being Bad Little Girls and got apologetic and scolded. Backs curved down, heads dropped. It was disgusting.
I just rolled my eyes. My face is an open book most times, even when I think it’s not.
I never forgot that. There we were talking about how oppressed we were about the strictures placed on our emotions, and just as those women relaxed and started to open up, it was back to YOUNG LADIES ARE NICE! Christ on a crutch.
And I know that that instructor was probably someone who had wrecked on the shoals of someone else’s anger and hence was terrified of it and probably would be for the rest of her life. She imagined that she was moving forward into welcoming women’s spirituality, but she was still just the scared kid cringing at what had hurt her, and telling herself that no matter what had happened to her, she must under no circumstance get angry and fight back. She was still the scolded little girl. There was no revolution there.
And if that woman ever does lose her temper at any point in the future, you can be sure it will be as destructive as possible … and aimed either at other women or children, because she’s been so brainwashed into never, ever blowing her shit up at a superior. Such women are dangerous to other women, and dangerous to kids. Dangerous to anyone beneath them in the patriarchal hierarchy, because they are too scared of anger to learn how to use it constructively. So they pretend they don’t have it, and then when they finally blow, they go after people more defenseless than they.
Women need to learn how to be angry in a constructive fashion.
He said that men commit violence women because they know they can get away with it. That’s the problem.
YES! And women think they can coddle and fellate the men into stopping! This is INSANE! You cannot coddle someone into respecting you! Even men don’t respect other men who fold and kowtow when they are threatened! Even OTHER MEN who behave this way are not respected by men! When a man threatens another man, and the second guy stands up for himself, the first will gain respect for him! Women need to start doing that — and we need to start standing up for women in the meantime instead of letting it happen because That Bitch had it coming.
But like that idiot at the women’s spirituality get-together, they think that “standing up for myself” and “exploding all over everything in sight” are the same thing, because they have never learned how to be constructively angry. And I’m not talking about letter-writing, speaking in low, measured tones with one’s hands folded, and not cursing when one is angry … I’m talking about constructive ways of being legitimately PISSED OFF. Women can’t do that. We’d better learn.
There is no disagreement here.
Women will come from different directions, with different approaches (some -assertive- angry, some not). We are not monolithic. The important thing is to create common ground -we want women in power- to move us ahead.
Yes — and not “this woman but not that one.” Bruce has said it before, and he’s right: when you are looking to break the glass ceiling, you use whatever rock you can find. You may not like that rock now, but if the ceiling doesn’t break in the first place, you’ll never get the rock you want up there, either.
Janis,
Totally and completely agree with your position about “constructive anger”. I remember growing up being taught this little diddy: “Girls are sugar and spice and everything nice…”
BTW, I also have experienced similar situations which you described above about that “women spirituality get-together”! However, I finally got over that syndrom of fear of ever expressing justified anger after I moved to NYC. I learned that speaking your mind is freeing and empowering and the people of NYC demanded it, or that would eat you alive. (No wonder men don’t want women to learn how to express their anger, as they do! They won’t get away with all the crap they’ve been “allowed” to get away with since the beginning of time. Just like children they are. Give them an inch, and they’ll take a mile and they’ve got accustomed to “getting away” with this selfish behavior.
I agree with you that women MUST learn how to free themselves from the fear of expressing anger. Why shouldn’t they, considering the total injuutice of the life women are expected to lead under the thumb of male power and control. It’s unbelievable than men expect women to live up to a standard they, themselves, could never expect to meet. Yet, we let them define us in such a way that we are literally demonized for daring to express ourselves freely.
The world has lost so much for allowing men to get away with this control over women by denying them the freedom to live their lives to the fullest extent possible, just like the men do.
“The world has lost so much for allowing men to get away with this control over women by denying them the freedom to live their lives to the fullest extent possible, just like the men do.”
People I’ve known and seen who fear angry women the most are often, to be blunt, people who are not capable of relationships with women. Both men and women. Men who fear Angry Ladies are often immature, petulant, and utterly incapable of deep relationships with women. Women who fear Angry Ladies (and their own anger as a result) often bottle it up and when it blows, it always blows at other women and kids. When women fear anger and as a result fail to learn to use it wisely, it’s just bad all around.