Queen’s gambit in political chess

published on 12/21/09 2:00 PM

Photo: Radio Bulgaria

Women in politics are like queens on the chessboard – they are most needed when crisis comes. Did the crisis urge a queen’s gambit, aiming at a more favorable position? The gambit is a triumph of the instinct and talent. Do women have stronger instincts in politics or is it a men’s game?

It is a tough question but there are certain facts. Women have long ago moved out of men’s shadow. They occupy key government offices in Bulgaria. The National Assembly president, the heads of the judicial and budget committees are all women. There are three women ministers and the newly elected Bulgarian European Commissioner is again a woman. A Bulgarian diplomat became the first woman to head UNESCO. A Bulgarian woman in the World Bank manages billion dollar projects.

In this patriarchal world, however, men stubbornly try to hold their positions.

“We cannot speak of matriarchate, as men still dominate the political stage”, say sociologist Mira Radeva. “A few women hold major positions because men allowed it to happen. The leading political party GERB nominated a woman for mayor’s position but the decision was taken by men. It is the same with the National Assembly president, the Justice Minister, and the European Commissioner. It is a fact that men control key government positions for long periods of time. In a number of parliaments in Western Europe the representatives of each sex must not exceed 60% or go below 40%. This is democracy.”

Only 28 % of the European ministers are women. Women are presidents of only two countries in the Council of Europe – Finland and Ireland. Women are prime ministers of Germany and Ukraine. There is progress, however, as one third of the nominees to take offices in the EC are women. Do women make different policy?

“It is hard to answer this question as we compete with men and play by their rules”, said Mira Radeva. “We are compelled to do what men do in order to have a successful career. Some women do not like this aggressive role and prefer to be more feminine and kind. The truth is that a number of women’s qualities are required in today’s government. Delicacy, versatility, and knowledge of human relations are of great importance. Women’s success in politics can be based on strictly following men’s rules or on integration of qualities of both sexes. We live in times when knowledge is the true power.”

Ambition, personality, and instinct are the qualities that keep women on top since the time of Cleopatra, Catherine the Great, Margaret Thatcher. Women already rule Argentina, Jamaica, South Korea. In Japan a woman could already become empress. “We need 70 years more to equalize wages of men and women who do the same job. 200 years more will be needed in the political sphere”, said EC vice president Margot Wallstrom during her visit to Bulgaria. Men do not like women’s ambitions to hold important positions but they let it happen because the queen’s gambit is helpful in times of crisis when instinct and delicacy are needed.

English version: A. Markov

По публикацията работи: Tanya Harizanova

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Queen’s gambit in political chess

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