Breaking The Mold
Much has changed the since the stereotypical – working man, domesticated woman societal expectations of half a century ago. As a result of this changes, many women have risen to prominence in male-dominated arena’ s inspiring millions of other women to pursue their talents. Here’ s a few examples of female trail-blazers...
“ Mother of a Nation” Dilma Rousseff
The first female president of South America’ s largest nation and the world sixth largest economy, Brazil has embraced the responsibility of replacing the much loved former president, Lula Da Silva and is working on fulfilling his belief that she will“ perfect” his legacy. Much like Fidel Castro, Ms Rousseff came from a middle class background but became a revolutionary; joining the resistance against the military dictatorship which ruled Brazil between 1964 and 1984. She was jailed for three years and tortured via electric shocks for her part in the rebellion.
Once the regime was toppled, she became a Government official, first working as a n Energy minister and then becoming President Lula’ s chief of staff in 2005, until she announced her presidential candidacy in 2010. She has been referred to as Brazil’ s“ Iron-Lady” due to her allegedly“ short fuse”, having sacked numerous ministers over allegations of corruption but unlike Ms Thatcher, her approval ratings remain high( 79 % at present) due in part to her exemption of essential foods like bread, apples, meat( and milk!) from Government tax. Currently ranked as the world’ s third most powerful woman by Forbes magazine and regularly described as the“ Mother of the nation” in her home country; Ms Rousseff is a widely admired head of state.
“ Fast & Furious” Davica Patrick
Race car driving is widely considered a“ man’ s sport” and has been for as long as Gandalf the Wizard can remember. British racing legend Stirling Moss recently claimed that women lacked the“ mental-aptitude” to cope with the stress of wheel- to wheel racing. However 31 year old American, Danica Patrick is proof that isn’ t the case. Following a successful career in Indy Car racing in which she became the first woman to win a race in the history of the series and set the record for most consecutive finishes, she started racing in the Nascar series in 2011. Despite taking a while to accustom herself to new surroundings, Danica’ s talent has shown through and she recently took her first Nascar pole-position. Her huge popularity in America combined with her admirable skills at the wheel have led to speculation that she could be offered a Formula 1 drive in the near future. Indeed, F1 supremo Bernie Eccclestone last month voiced his opinion that she could compete with the likes of Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso. Whatever, the future holds Danica has already proven that women really can drive at the highest level and on occasion, do an even better job that the fellas. cont.... 15