Iron Lady: Difference between revisions

{{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]].}}

 

'''Thatcher''': Mr. Tito, I don't "meddle" in politics, [[I Am the Noun|I]] ''[[I Am the Noun|am]]'' [[I Am the Noun|politics]]. }}

 

 

Non-royal women in positions of power are almost always portrayed as very [[The Stoic|stoic]] and no-nonsense, at least publicly. Rarely will you find a woman president, prime minister, governor, legislator, judge, or military leader who is presented as indecisive, incompetent, or otherwise "weak." She's also usually not portrayed as corrupt, either, although if she's [[The Man Behind the Man|directing things from behind the scenes]], that tends to change.

** 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:

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

** Now ''she'' was one [[Badass]] woman.

* Inspector Thatcher on ''[[Due South]]'', whose nickname from one of the Rays was the Dragon Lady. (not to be confused with the [[Dragon Lady]] trope.) Yes, she was named after the real Thatcher.

* Susan Ivanova in [[Babylon 5]].

** Delenn doesn't really qualify being graceful rather then hard on the outside. [[Silk Hiding Steel|She can be iron enough when put to it though]].

*** Her regal bearing and high rank in an aristocratic society makes her closer to [[The Woman Wearing the Queenly Mask|this]].

* 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.

* 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.