Thursday, April 14, 2016

Women Leaders

Today in class, Mrs. Quinet said something that stuck with me. She was talking about Indira Gandhi and she said "It was weird because her husband died and she was not tied to any man at that point except for the fact that her father was Nehru." I thought that it was interesting that a woman had to be tied to a man to mean something. But if you thought about it, Indira Gandhi did so much for India as a country. She did all of this without a man by her side and did it very well. She reminds me of Queen Elizabeth. Even though the current queen of England has a husband, she is the one you always hear about. Both of these ladies are strong leaders who did great for their country. I just hate that women always need to be compared to the men they are with when women can shine all alone.

2 comments:

Abbey Sims said...

We should recognize that Gandhi was also a major human rights violator - she forcefully sterilized impoverished people so they would not create more problems for the future, among some other offenses (e.g. Suspending the rule of law and prosecuting anyone who criticized her, cancelling an election when she was losing, etc.). But you could also argue that it was for their own good, however sinister that may seem.

Cheyenne Dwyer said...

Haha yeah I agree that she is probably not the best example to give for the promotion of women independence, but that doesn't change the fact that she was extremely powerful and influential. Her name will go down in history and she made a lot of huge changes in Indian history. She had all of that power without a man. A woman doesn't need a man to make a difference, and I'm sure she did a lot of long term good for India even if the way she did it wasn't the most agreeable. It makes me proud when women of power don't marry in order to keep their own standing, but it makes me even happier when they can marry but they still keep every shred of power. The biggest shame is a woman who had to give away all of her potential and power in the name of marriage.