There is an old saying that, ‘behind every successful man, there is a woman,’ which traditionally has meant that successful men owe their achievements in life to their wives, partners and/or mothers who supported and encouraged them in reaching the heights which they attained. The saying has all sorts of connotations these days and has been twisted every which way. Some feminists have even expanded it to ‘behind every successful man there is an equally successful woman waiting to take his place.’ This in reference to the glass ceiling and is perhaps mostly true as far as business goes.
But can the same be said for politics?
Of the 245-odd sovereign states in the world, only 69 women – 70 after Dilma Rousseff would have been sworn in as president of Brazil – have been either president or prime minister, from the 1980s to present day in 52 countries; some states have had more than one female leader.
Interestingly, Haiti, Finland and Switzerland lead the way with three women presidents/prime ministers apiece over the years. A few other states have had two. This is a clear sign that patriarchy is alive and well in the world. In fact, the “strides” claimed in gender balance pertain mostly to academia and business, and of course numbers. Today’s world population is actually close to being balanced.
Statistically, according to 2009 estimates of data compiled by the UN Statistics Division, the numbers of males and females in the world are just about equal. Of the approximately 6.8 billion people in the world, 3.44 billion are male and 3.38 billion are female. In Guyana, with an estimated population of 762,000-odd, we have some 391,000 males and 371,000 females – a difference of about 20,000. There are a few countries – Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados and Brazil among them – where women outnumber men by a few hundred or a few thousand and vice versa.
While it is known, particularly in Guyana, that women have been and are vocal in backing male political leaders and parties, sometimes outnumbering men in terms of membership, there have not really been that many women knocking down the door, so to speak, to lead. Nor, for that matter, has there been much of a sign of men supporting their wives, partners, daughters to go for that particular prize. In fact, some men have even gone as far as to deter their female relations, admonishing that ‘politics is a dirty game,’ although they have paid lip service over the years to the idea that any child male or female can be whoever s/he wants to be.
Aside from Mrs Janet Jagan, who we were told was anointed by her husband to take the reins of this country as he lay dying, there has been just one woman who has publicly announced her intention of stepping up to the plate – Mrs Faith Harding. We can discount Mrs Sheila Holder’s seemingly reluctant acceptance of the nomination as the AFC’s prime ministerial candidate last week. Mrs Holder’s did not display the strength of her convictions, as she indicated to her party’s leader Mr Raphael Trotman that she would be willing to step back and allow him the opportunity, should his circumstances change. (Mr Trotman had declined the nomination citing health issues and Mrs Holder, also a founder/member of the AFC was the party’s second choice.) We as a society, and especially women, need to move away from the thinking that men ultimately make better politicians and better leaders simply because they are men. Among the 70 women who have been or are heads of government/state in the world are some prime examples of this not being the case. Just as there are examples all around us of men failing miserably at leading.
