Iron Lady: Difference between revisions

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[[File:~~11129644_9554~~.jpg|link=Margaret Thatcher|frame|''The'' Iron Lady]]

[[File:11129644 9554.jpg|link=Margaret Thatcher|frame|''The'' Iron Lady]]

{{quote|''To those waiting with bated breath for that favourite media catchphrase, the "U-turn", I have only one thing to say. "You turn if you want to. The lady's not for turning."'' |'''[[Margaret Thatcher]]''' to the 1980 [[British Political System|Conservative]] [[Conference Season|Party Conference]].}}

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In certain media, they often have British accents, [[Margaret Thatcher|heaven knows why]]. Regardless of media, she is likely to have [[Power Hair]].

Such characters are prone to discover a well-hidden maternal instinct towards their subordinates, making this a [[Distaff Counterpart]] to [[A Father to His Men]] (although usually not military). Compare with [[Proper Lady]], which provides the [[Iron Lady]] some foundation. Compare [[Silk Hiding Steel]], where her iron disposition is hidden beneath smiles and [[Passive-Aggressive Kombat]].

Such characters are prone to discover a well-hidden maternal instinct towards their subordinates, making this a [[Distaff Counterpart]] to [[A Father to His Men]] (although usually not military). Compare with [[Proper Lady]], which provides the '''Iron Lady''' some foundation. Compare [[Silk Hiding Steel]], where her iron disposition is hidden beneath smiles and [[Passive-Aggressive Kombat]].

Compare/contrast [[Evil Matriarch]]. Also contrast her possible opposites [[Stepford Smiler]], [[Misplaced Kindergarten Teacher]], and [[Cute and Psycho]], all of whom are more prone to ''using'' emotion to get what they want rather than setting it aside as the [[Iron Lady]] does.

Compare/contrast [[Evil Matriarch]]. Also contrast her possible opposites [[Stepford Smiler]], [[Misplaced Kindergarten Teacher]], and [[Cute and Psycho]], all of whom are more prone to ''using'' emotion to get what they want rather than setting it aside as the '''Iron Lady''' does.

If she ''is'' royal, see [[The High Queen]], [[God Save Us From the Queen]], and/or [[The Woman Wearing the Queenly Mask]]. For her typical [[Evil Counterpart]], see [[The Baroness]].

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* [[The Bible]] has a a few interesting examples:

** Esther was rather like this. She was a little like Scheherazade, but had a bit of ruthlessness as well. Of all the books of the Tanakh (Jewish Bible), she is only one of two women to have a book named after her.

** Deborah, the only female Judge of Israel<ref>For those living under a rock, that meant "leader of the Israelites" at the time.</ref>. With her general Barak, she led the Israelites against the Canaanites (Barak didn't trust his own judgment). In her own words:

** Deborah, the only female Judge of Israel.<ref>For those living under a rock, that meant "leader of the Israelites" at the time.</ref> With her general Barak, she led the Israelites against the Canaanites (Barak didn't trust his own judgment). In her own words:

{{quote|'''Deborah''': Truly, the {{smallcaps|Lord}} will sell the Canaanites this day into the hand of a woman!}}

* From ''[[The Silmarillion]]'', the Human chieftainess Haleth who led her people out of Morgoth's country into Beleriand.

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== [[Western Animation]] ==

* [[Avatar: The Last Airbender|Princess Azula]] appears to be an adolescent [[Iron Lady]] crossed with [[Arrogant Kung Fu Guy]], and later adds elements of [[Ax Crazy]].

* [[Avatar: The Last Airbender|Princess Azula]] appears to be an adolescent Iron Lady crossed with [[Arrogant Kung Fu Guy]], and later adds elements of [[Ax Crazy]].

* ''[[The Legend of Korra]]'' gives us Lin Beifong, who is a more [[Visual Pun|literal case with actual metal armor]]. She is the chief of the Metalbending Police Force in Republic City for the power part.

* Amanda Waller, chief of the [[Government Conspiracy|Project Cadmus]] in [[Justice League (animation)|Justice League]], is so iron, she stands up to Superman, Wonder Woman, and Aquaman at the same time upon her first introduction, chews out the Goddamn Batman, and personally confronts {{spoiler|Lex Luthor}} in his lair upon discovering his treachery.

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* [[Margaret Thatcher]], of course.

* Dame Eugenia Charles, the first female prime minister of the Commonwealth of Dominica in the West Indies. She was even known as the "Iron Lady of The Caribbean" due to her uncompromising stance on her views.

* Indira Gandhi of India, who was even ''de facto'' dictator of India for almost two years (the Indian Emergency, ~~1975-77~~).

* Indira Gandhi of India, who was even ''de facto'' dictator of India for almost two years (the Indian Emergency, 1975–77).

* Golda Meir, Prime Minister of Israel during the [[Arab-Israeli Conflict|Yom Kippur War]] and before that Israel's Foreign Minister for ten years. She was often called "The Iron Lady of Israel," and combined it with [[Jewish Mother]] in a rather odd fashion: for instance, she would bake a cake for the ministers comprising her "kitchen cabinet" (circle of closest advisors, meeting for Shabbat dinner), but also be totally willing to grill them, chew them out, or embarrass them over state business even as they munched on the cake.

* Tzipi Livni was famous for her no-nonsense attitude as Israeli Foreign Minister under Ehud Olmert, and continues to have that iron will as Leader of the Opposition. Given the revolving door that is the Israeli premiership, there's a good chance she'll be PM in a few years yet.

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* Yulia Timoshenko, former Prime Minister of Ukraine was famous for being stubborn and getting things done. In a country where [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8645847.stm smoke bombs, eggs, and fisticuffs] are a not-unexpected way to [[Blood on the Debate Floor|settle things on the floor of Parliament]], you ''have'' to be stubborn to be effective.

* Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, current President of Liberia, and the first elected female leader in Africa. She ''has'' to be tough as nails; there's the threat of a coup.

* Benazir Bhutto, the late Prime Minister of Pakistan. Although democratically-elected, she inherited a nearly-dictatorial manner of politics from her father, former Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (an extremely shrewd political operator who earned [[Badass]] points after a coup forced him through years of [[Kangaroo Court~~|Kangaroo Courts~~]] before being executed in 1979). However, this wasn't enough to prevent her assassination in December 2007.

* Benazir Bhutto, the late Prime Minister of Pakistan. Although democratically-elected, she inherited a nearly-dictatorial manner of politics from her father, former Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (an extremely shrewd political operator who earned [[Badass]] points after a coup forced him through years of [[Kangaroo Court]]s before being executed in 1979). However, this wasn't enough to prevent her assassination in December 2007.

* [[Hillary Rodham Clinton]] has exhibited these tendencies. Remember when that translator screwed up a question to make it sound like the poor Congolese student was asking for Bill's opinion on some subject or other? Hillary was displeased.

* Meg Whitman, former President and CEO of eBay and Carly Fiorina, former CEO at Hewlett-Packard, both of whom ran for statewide office in California (Whitman for Governor, Fiorina for US Senate; both lost), tend to try to [[Invoked Trope|invoke]] this at every possible opportunity. The degree to which they are this trope varies, although consensus seems that Whitman fits the bill more closely. Accounts of Fiorina's downfall at H-P range from "she was too tough" to "she was not tough enough" to "her actual toughness aside, she spent too much time acting one thing or another and not enough actually running the company."

** Somewhat amusingly, a year after they both lost their political races, Whitman was hired to take Fiorina's old job at H-P. In the meantime, Fiorina has mostly been taking bit roles on corporate and nonprofit boards.

* Clare Boothe Luce: Congresswoman, [[Intrepid Reporter]], Author, [[Lady of Adventure]], and fabled [[Deadpan Snarker]] (and inveterate rival of [[Dorothy Parker]]). And quite a looker too from what I've read.

** She certainly proves [[Ugly Guy, Hot Wife]] (Henry ~~Luce -- publisher~~ of ''[[Time]]'' ~~-- was~~ not exactly handsome).

** She certainly proves [[Ugly Guy, Hot Wife]] (Henry Luce—publisher of ''[[Time]]''—was not exactly handsome).

* While on the subject of American Congresswomen, may I suggest [[wikipedia:Jeannette Rankin|Jeannette Rankin]] ~~-- the~~ only person to vote against the United States going to war in both [[World War One|World War I]] and [[World War II]]? [[World War II]] in ~~particular -- she~~ was the ''only'' Member of Congress to vote against the US declaration of war against Japan. Whatever one might think of those votes, standing on your principles like that takes ''balls'' (pardon the pun).

* While on the subject of American Congresswomen, may I suggest [[wikipedia:Jeannette Rankin|Jeannette Rankin]]—the only person to vote against the United States going to war in both [[World War One|World War I]] and [[World War II]]? [[World War II]] in particular—she was the ''only'' Member of Congress to vote against the US declaration of war against Japan. Whatever one might think of those votes, standing on your principles like that takes ''balls'' (pardon the pun).

* Nancy Pelosi, the first female Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. Second in line to the Presidency for six years, not at ''all'' well-liked by the opposition, but admired by many Democrats. She definitely gives off a "strong mother figure" persona (in her home life, she's the emphatically-Catholic mother of five and grandmother of seven, so far), but she has serious political cred.

** Even [[Memetic Badass|Rahm Emanuel]] won't cross Nancy in public.

{{quote|'''Emanuel:''' "Nancy gave me two very important tasks as soon as she became Speaker: Sit down and shut up. I got pretty mad. I said there is only one woman in my life who can order me around like that... [[Hillary Clinton]]."}}

* Subverted by Chile's first female president, Michelle Bachelet, who tried (with a moderate amount of success) to play the [[Team Mom]] card. Of course, in a country which has had 16 years of the same political bloc running it, the unashamed corruption and money-grubbing were too strong, and this attitude of hers ended up playing against her (she currently heads up the [[United Nations]] Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, known as UN Women because UNEGEEW sounds like Ban Ki-moon just threw up).

** Played straight by the deceased high-ranked lawyer Monica Madariaga, the Minister of Justice in Pinochet's dictatorship. According to Madariaga's testimony, she had to become an [[Iron Lady]] to cope with the misogyny among Pinochet's aides.

** Played straight by the deceased high-ranked lawyer Monica Madariaga, the Minister of Justice in Pinochet's dictatorship. According to Madariaga's testimony, she had to become an Iron Lady to cope with the misogyny among Pinochet's aides.

** Also averted by Australia's first female (and current) Prime Minister, who likes to stress her '[[Catch Phrase|consultative approach]]'. However, this has earned her a lot of criticism.

* Philippine senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago eats death threats for breakfast, so uncompromising is she.

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* [[Red October]] era Bolshevik commissar Rosalia Zemlyachka.

* Current Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff. In her youth, was arrested and tortured for being part of a Communist guerrilla. As politician, was Minister of Mines and Energy, then Chief of Staff, then elected President, where she fired at least seven ministers in just one year!

* Current President of Malawi (since 2012) Joyce Banda seems to be one of these. Appointed VP in 2009, under Bingu wa Mutharika, she got into serious policy disputes with the ~~President--mostly~~ involving much-needed reforms and his alienation of donor ~~countries--and~~ founded a breakaway political party to support her. When he died in 2012, she called on the military to support her right to succeed to the presidency, which was being contested by Mutharika's loyalists in the Cabinet. Since then, she has proved to be a tough political player and has made several important and often controversial decisions, both at home and abroad. At home, she has announced plans to decriminalize homosexuality, which is a big move in socially-conservative Malawi. In foreign policy, one of her earliest decisions was to refuse to host an African Union summit after the AU declared that Malawi would have to give [[Useful Notes/Sudan|Sudanese]] President Omar al-Bashir<ref>wanted by the ICC for genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes</ref> assurances that he would not be arrested if he landed in the country; Mutharika had done so on a previous occasion, and the AU has been quite clear that they regard the charge as an affront.

* Current President of Malawi (since 2012) Joyce Banda seems to be one of these. Appointed VP in 2009, under Bingu wa Mutharika, she got into serious policy disputes with the President—mostly involving much-needed reforms and his alienation of donor countries—and founded a breakaway political party to support her. When he died in 2012, she called on the military to support her right to succeed to the presidency, which was being contested by Mutharika's loyalists in the Cabinet. Since then, she has proved to be a tough political player and has made several important and often controversial decisions, both at home and abroad. At home, she has announced plans to decriminalize homosexuality, which is a big move in socially-conservative Malawi. In foreign policy, one of her earliest decisions was to refuse to host an African Union summit after the AU declared that Malawi would have to give [[Useful Notes/Sudan|Sudanese]] President Omar al-Bashir<ref>wanted by the ICC for genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes</ref> assurances that he would not be arrested if he landed in the country; Mutharika had done so on a previous occasion, and the AU has been quite clear that they regard the charge as an affront.