Women Power in Pakistan, Bangladesh, India (…and USA?)
India’s neighbourhood has been witnessing quite a bit of turmoil in the recent past. Bangladesh and Pakistan are two rare Islamic countries where women politicians are in the forefront, and some now even taking extraordinary risks to return to power.
A defiant Sheikh Hasina, former prime minister of Bangladesh, arrived in the capital, Dhaka, on Monday after the government lifted an entry ban that had stranded her in London on her way home from the United States, says The Washington Post.
“She was greeted at the airport by thousands of well-wishers who ignored official orders against political rallies.
“Hasina’s longtime rival, Khaleda Zia, prime minister in the previous government, remained under house arrest after four weeks with no working telephone lines to her home, as the government of former central bank governor Fakhruddin Ahmed prepared summary trials of prominent political figures.”
While Pakistan’s Benazir Bhutto, self-exiled former prime minister of Pakistan, yesterday said she might reach some political deal with President Pervez Musharraf, but he should quit his role as army chief to foster true democracy, says The Gulf Times.
“Pakistan has been rife with speculation in recent weeks that Musharraf and Bhutto were overcoming their mutual distrust to forge a common front against conservative forces ahead of a general election later this year.
” ‘We admit there are contacts because we want transparency, but we don’t say the deal has been done,’ she told reporters in Dubai in a telecast carried by Pakistani networks yesterday.
“Bhutto said previous contacts had come to nothing, but added: ‘This time, there might be a deal and there might not be a deal.’
“However, she insisted Musharraf should fulfill his commitment to step down as army chief by the end of 2007 before any deal could be reached.
‘A president in uniform and democracy cannot go together … we want military to go back to barracks,’ Bhutto said.”
While Kuwait Times reports that “a political accord between the two politicians (Musharraf and Bhutto) is reportedly being facilitated by the US and British governments as they try to maintain stability in Pakistan, which is a key ally in the war against terrorism.”
And here is an overall interesting story on women power:
“When Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni recently suggested Ehud Olmert should step aside and let her be prime minister, nobody batted an eye over the fact she is a woman.
“Golda Meir laid that debate to rest in Israel nearly 40 years ago.
“Britain had Margaret Thatcher, Pakistan had Benazir Bhutto and India had Indira Gandhi. Women hold high office in a dozen countries around the world, in Asia, Europe, Africa and Latin America, from Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany to President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo of the Philippines.
What about the USA? “Women have been seeking the U.S. presidency since Victoria Clafin Woodhull ran on the Equal Rights Party ticket against Ulysses S. Grant and Horace Greeley in 1872.
“So why has the United States, where Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton is a leading contender for the Democratic presidential nomination, never elected a woman to the White House?”
A good question, especially when even Islamic countries have prime ministers.
