Modern American feminism is a cross between Mean Girls and Cultural Marxism for4 dummies. It is a cult. I suspect European feminism is only slightly better. No wonder she doesn't want to label herself that. The irony is modern "intersectionality" feminist demands blind subservience to cultures that are very sexist. I thought the feminist movement was about women thinking for themselves? Nowadays it is about naively and blindly following Islamist Linda Sarsour and the Women's March in which 3/4 of the co-chairs are open promoters of the hate group Nation of Islam. The 4th member, the white woman, encourages white feminists to be subservient to people of color. No thanks. This is a sickness.
5
I am a great Angela Merkel fan. I hoped (against hope) that Hillary Clinton would watch her closely and learn.
I take issue with the comments of Ms. Verveer, about it being necessary to "not appear threatening." That sophomoric thinking floating around inside the HRC campaign bubble helped get us where we are. Ms. Merkel used an approach that fit her personal style. Perhaps that can be described to "not appear threatening." But how about another trailblazer--Margaret Thatcher? Did she come across as effective "and yet not appear threatening?" Hardly! She used an approach that fit HER personal style.
Hillary Clinton had a great resume in certain respects but as a politician she was callow. She had far too little experience in that field. She had not learned how to distill her personal style into a political persona. And she could never overcome the always-visible truth that she cared about the fortunes of women with more genuine passion than she had for the fortunes of the entire country. There is a place in public life for that but it's not the Oval Office. She only got as far as she did because of the dreadful alternative on the other ticket. She is/was not on the level of Angela Merkel or Margaret Thatcher.
2
Americans freak out at (and don't understand) the word/concept of feminism so don't expect much from these comments.
6
So what? Maybe the truest feminist is...a person.
1
don't look at the gender look at the resume..
too bad Hillary didn't make a big deal about that vs. making a big deal about being a woman. I voted for Hillary because she was the most qualified candidate in history..NOT because she is a woman.
2
Hillary had a good resume but can we drop this "most qualified candidate in history" schtick?
A few years ago I read the wikipedia article about Herbert Hoover. I was shocked to see how unbelievably rich his pre-Presidential resume was. I recommend it to anyone who thinks a great resume promises a great President.
Lest anyone think I'm an anti-Hillary troll, I donated a sufficiently large amount to her campaign in 2016 as to be painful to a working person like me. But I value fairness and honesty and get annoyed by the mindless repetition of "facts" that are really just slogans.
3
Former first lady, carpetbagger senator, token secretary of state the most qualified candidate in history, dream on.
6
What an incredibly insulting article. Is it necessary to refer to men as "boys" and insult them as "apes" in order to write an article about a powerful woman? The author seems to be completely blind to the lesson Markel taught. Be a great person, not a great man or woman. The anti-male feminism is so ingrained in this country, and especially at the NY Times, they just can't help themselves anymore.
12
She's sex-less (hence her success as a female).
2
In my view, she is every bit a woman, a daughter, a wife, and a world leader. And in no way sex-less.
2
@Rae: You should ask her husband first. She could be wild behind closed doors.
Why is not identifying as a feminist labeled by this writer and her quoted sources as "stealth strategy", or "cultivating a resolutely boring public persona", or a "veil of blandness", "gender neutral", "not (appearing) threatening" -- as if a female human cannot be other than a secret feminist? The writer also pushes other images: East Germany proclaims "gender equality" but (of course!) "patriarchy ruled at home"; the 'boys' elected her "because she could fail"; Hillary failed because of "a misogynistiac backlash", and other sneering references to "alpha males", "(protesters who are) mostly male", etc. I am tired of this kind of writing. Please improve.
8
Good for Frau Merkel. Don't let yourself be limited by others' labels.
8
What a narrow door
women
must enter through.
3
If women need to be treated equal as a man, why the need of an extra title as in " feminist "?
3
Where, please, are links to the two open letters cited -- one from Merkel, one to Merkel? The author or editor should have included these links to deepen and to broaden the connections that can be made from this essay.
2
So, in the author's estimation, sexism and the patriarchy is keeping the most powerful woman in the world from voicing what she absolutely has to be bursting to say, "Ich bin ein Feministin!" Could it be that, as the most powerful woman in the world, Merkel is exercising her considerable feminine agency and simply doesn't identify with the modern feminist position?
7
Distinguishing between man und woman is very crude. It really is nonsens. Compare Obaman, HR Clinton and Trump. Do you distinguish between black, white, man, woman? It is the totally different personalities that come to mind. Merkel is a scientist, a physicist with PhD. She works methodically and rigorous. That is - I think - what most germans like about her. She probably is a very good personification of german clichés.
7
I've never been sure what feminism is, to be honest I don't care, but from what I see it is to avoided wherever possible. As for Merkel, all I can say is, her having substantially orchestrated and introduced the open border policies that allowed Radical Islamic Terrorism into Europe qualifies her for the following title:
The World's Most Dangerous Woman.
Who needs enemies when you have friends like Angela Merkel?
5
It's too late, of course, but too bad Mrs. Clinton couldn't have read this.
There are lessons here for those for whom being a feminist is so overwhelming that their achievements and savvy are overlooked.
I thought Hillary was an outstanding Secretary of State and her eleven hour testimony before the Benghazi Committee was so impressive that I looked st the entire eleven hours, I believe it was.
I voted for her, always having some reservations about her.
It overwhelms me that such a complete idiot got more electoral votes than she.
3
It's noteworthy that the author of this article is assigned to 'gender issues' instead of politics. It seems that the self-proclaimed newspapaer of record for the USA can't get passed the fact that the current best leader of a major country is a woman. One reason why Angela Merkel achieved a higher standing in her country than Hillary Clinton in hers, is that Ms. Merkel didn't rise on the coattails of her husband. Without becoming first lady of Arkansas and then of the USA, Ms. Clinton would likely never have risen as high as she subsequently did. Not with that enormous chip on her shoulder, at any rate.
2
Are you kidding me? Do you think MAYBE Hillary's loss had something to do with her going on and on about the "glass ceiling", a problem that annoys a tiny segment of highly ambitious women who graduated from places like Wellesley? Did Barack Obama go on and on about how it was about time we had a black president? Even if it was? No, he simply gave great speeches.
Angela Merkel has the common sense merely to be good at what she does and address the issues that need to be addressed. Feminism is a terrible reason to give the electorate. It left the door wide open for Donald Trump to do what he does best - acting like the south end of a northbound mule.
7
So the glass ceiling is unmentionable? The barrier that "cannot be named"?
We should all pretend it does not exist, and the woman who mentions it (especially if she is a politician) is to be shunned?
Women may have come a long way baby, like the old cigarette commercial used to say, but apparently in the US, there is a long way still to go.
2
You may be on to something here. One ran as a feminist and the other ran as a masculinist. And they had, together, some of the lowest approval ratings of general election candidates ever.
Ah, for an American Merkel. But we have nothing like a Christian Democratic Party here.
2
"Misogynistic backlash gripped the US" -- my fanny! As with legions of other American female citizens, I voted for Clinton's opponent primarily because I disagree with Clinton on issues, and secondarily because of her particular set of huge and unsurmountable character flaws. Gender immaterial.
5
The bottom line message: If a woman wants to get ahead, she should never act like a woman. There is a word for that.
5
There is no one way that "a woman" acts. Angela Merkel acts like a woman, like a woman who is also a world leader, like a woman who had the moral courage to open Germany to large numbers of immigrants, like a woman who is more effective than almost any other world leader. I'd say she's quite a woman.
3
It's easy to disclaim feminism, and reap the rewards of a still skewed but more balanced first world, when it was the women ahead of you, fighting, protesting, wielding machetes in courts of law, who cleared through some of the dense brush of patriarchy for reproductive freedom, access to educational and professional opportunity, and the right to even open credit in your own name.
I wonder if AM has talked to her Mom and grandmother about how things were back in 'the good old days', before the feminist revolution .
2
And yet, the United States is not Germany. We can learn from them, but their are limits to emulation. In 2008, for instance, Ms. Clinton did not campaign "as a woman who would make history by shattering the highest glass ceiling," but rather one very much on the anodyne model of Ms Merkel and STILL faced a "misogynist backlash" while being whiplashed by the additional criticism that she failed to own the historical moment and change potential of her sex in the manner Mr. Obama did of his color. All of which led her to be labeled "calculating" and "inauthentic" to boot; descriptions far more perjorative to Americans than to Germans.
It seems to me the important difference is in life history. Ms. Merkel grew in a society that rhetorically exalted sex equality and one she and her generation, mean no women alike, opposed for other reasons. Ms Clinton is a leading member of a generation of American women who had to fight to gain greater equality and opportunity in their society. So resentments and old bitterness remain for Clinton and her American cohort in a way they do not for the East Germany bred Merkel.
3
Angela Merkel IS the most powerful woman. Her grace, confidence, her intelligence are without par in the male dominated leaders in the rest of the world. It is amazing to see her in a group photographs of G20 leaders. She is never intimidated in spite of all male brats around her - our's especially! She is the only adult in the room. And that's what the world needs now. And she's a woman? I did'nt notice. All I see is a strong leader!
1
It really is time ti be done with men, do women need them anymore. Its the male of the species that is designed to kill, main, rape and destroy. Yes we used to need them for their physical strength but not anymore.
Men what exactly are they good for?
She is authentic...enough said
5
When are we going to face the fact it wasn't Clinton's gender that got in the way of her being elected? Arguably it was the only thing she had going for her.
4
When we vote for a leader, we vote for someone to represent the best interests of the country, including all demographic groups. I am African American, and I was happy to see President Obama become the first black president. However, being black was NOT something he campaigned on or governed on, and rightly so. Americans, whatever their race, were entitled to know that he had their back.
Angela Merkel takes this same approach with regard to gender. Hillary Clinton last year? Not so much. She repeatedly emphasized her gender on the campaign trail, and the fact the she was "breaking glass ceilings." I always thought it was bad politics. Americans don't care so much if you break glass ceilings. Rather, they want you to improve the economy and benefit their lives.
I voted for Hillary Clinton in the general, of course, and was disheartened, though not really surprised, to see that she lost. I look forward to possibly voting in 2020 for a woman, Elizabeth Warren, who doesn't talk so much about breaking class ceilings, but about fighting for the middle class and working families.
1
It won't matter which Democratic woman runs for President next. The Republican right-wing propaganda and hate machine will sharpen their axes and be ready to slice her to shreds just like they did Clinton. Democratic male candidates won't be much safer, either. The Republicans intend to rule permanently, and nothing is off the table in achieving that.
Future elections may just all be sham elections.
1
I can see why she wouldn't want the label. The feminist movement has become loud, ineffective and amazingly narrow-minded.
I was one of those 'first females' in a responsible position in the early '70s when company policies still banned women from many positions and men made the decisions about women's bodies. It was assumed we were useless in the workplace except as secretaries, nurses and teachers.
I believe those who loudly cover themselves with the mantle of feminism have little credibility. It's as if their primary slogan is 'Look at me! Look at me!!' -- which is useless in making women's lives better.
Those who loudly proclaim themselves feminists need to get off the streets and into the trenches -- it's a lot harder and no one gives you much recognition and there's almost zero drama, but it's worthwhile.
2
One thing that struck me is Chira’s characterization of Merkel’s approach as being a stealth approach, stealth here implying devious or surreptitious, that somehow a woman seeking power has to hide her intentions. The image I have of Merkel is just the opposite. It is of someone who is modest and straightforward. I suppose only an American feminist could take this as a really devious way of being sneaky.
2
A very interesting and accurate article. One point which the article fails to make is that Germany is a parliamentary democracy. Frau Dr. Merkel was never required to defend herself as a woman since she was/is at the top of the list for her party, the face of the CDU, The same holds true for other well-known female political leaders: they are all from parliamentary democracies, elected by their party to lead the party in an election.
It is this distinction which makes it possible for them to neutralize the fact that they are women. It is also an advantage which Mrs. Clinton did not have in the U.S. where she was always a woman first and a politician second.
Frau Dr. Merkel agreed to have one TV debate with her SPD rival, who is trailing her in the polls. When he appealed for another debate to discuss further issues, she said 'no, thanks' and defended her decision by calmly pointing out that, unlike America, Germans do not vote for individuals but parties and the party positions were already clear.
She is a phenomenon and Germany is lucky to have her.
6
Best comment today.
Most Americans are unaware of how other countries' political systems are set up. We get too wrapped up in our own politics and don't read enough about the rest of the world. We need to change this.
3
Around 1935 or so the English dramatist Dorothy Sawyer was asked to write an article on her feminism. Instead she wrote a piece entitled, “Why I am not a Feminist.” Sawyer was a mainline Christian and therefore affirmed the value and dignity of each person. For Sawyer the category person was all important. The gist of her piece was that feminism, by taking one aspect of a person, gender, and then transforming it into an ism, is a distortion that diminishes a person’s dignity. Perhaps, with the failure of Hillary Clinton and the success of Angela Merkel, Americans in general, and American women in particular, might be ready to understand what Sawyer was talking about. (The essay can be found in *Are Women Human?* by Dorothy Sawyer.
4
In the NYT view of the world, shared by elite US colleges, gender, race, and sexuality are now the most important things about us--and so the categories are indispensable in understanding the entire world. But race and gender and sexuality in their American Manhattanite senses cannot be used to predict and categorize everything. American left feminism may not be the lens for getting Merkel in focus. She may need to be understood on her own terms.
5
@ Nathan San Marcos CA - I have been trying for 3 years to get someone at the New York Times to at least acknowledge that the US use of an archaic system of classsifying people, a system created by racists, deserves discussion.
Former USCB Director Kenneth Prewitt had a fine OpEd in August 2013 in which he presented the case he presents in Ch 11 of his book "What Is Your Race?..." which is basically this. Time to move on and collect good SES and - my addition, medical - data. Get rid of race ethnicity.
But as you know, most Americans and definitely Times editors find it impossible to talk about human difference without using fictional races.
Putting people in race boxes seems to be a major US industry that is not going to go away soon, if ever.
Please note other readers. Do not come with the standard reply "LL do you think this will do away with racism?"
Dumb question: Racism is forever in its many different forms. Today 30 Nazis were allowed to march in Göteborg even though they did not have a permit. It appears that the police decided that if they had tried to stop the march, the neo Nazis would have gotten violent. Even worse, they have a permit to demonstrate at Götaplatsen on September 30. Sweden does not classify people by race but the neo Nazis do. These neo-Nazis and their American counterparts see races as genetically distinct groups, not socially constructed.
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
Dual citizen US SE
Perhaps Merkel does not consider herself a feminist because she is not one. Although some feminists may want to take credit for every woman who achieves and believe that she owes the movement, a woman can be successful as an individual, on her own merit.
5
Merkel's actions speak far louder than any words. Her quiet example of strong leadership is the essence of feminism. She doesn't need the label.
10
Perhaps Merkel rejects the term feminist because she realizes it's used improperly. Men and women are different. They are two aspects of total humanity. She accepted that and therefore was able to use her abilities to compete and succeed in a world of men & women. Now that's true feminism - being fully yourself.
10
Were the 53% of white women who voted against Ms. Clinton "misogynists"?
What Chancellor Merkel has figured out and American "Feminists" need to learn quickly is that we need to get out of "label-world" and into the real world. People need to be spoken to like adults who have serious issues that need to be addressed (health care, jobs,debt, etc.). Senator Sanders figured this out and came within a hair of one of the greatest upsets in American political history. Ms. Clinton never figured this out and presided over the most stunning and tragic loss in American political history. Thinking of that electoral disaster as driven by a "misogynist backlash" is very helpful to Trump's chances for re-election. We don't need nor want candidates who are running to "break ceilings" we demand candidates who are running to serve the needs of our country.
12
And how is that working out now? Is Trump "serving the needs of our country"?
Well, maybe he is, but then what does that say about us?
A wide majority of the public reject Feminism the political movement but support feminism, the definition. It's something left wing politics cannot digest. The first US president will almost undoubtably be conservative for this reason.
4
It's not a political movement. It's reality.
2
Angela Merkel is a german conservative (CDU=Christian Democratic Union), not a progressive (SPD or Green). She would not be able to call herself a feminist in her own party. However, look at her actions - those are the ones of a feminist.
She also was brought up as a scientics (she is a professor of chemistry) in former eastern germany. I think that is the basis for her very fact-based approach that does not subscribe to labels but data and actions. Wish we had more of those here in the US.
6
I saw her speak once and she was decidedly boring - but so were other European politicians. Germany is not the US. European politics are a different game. To start with, Germany has more than two parties and coalition building is necessary.
She played the boys' game like Thatcher. And like Thatcher, she inspires no woman to run for office and does not promote women or the feminist cause. Yes it is still important that we have a woman leader like her but I would rather Hillary be the most powerful woman in the world.
Hillary won by more than 3 million votes but lost by 70,000 votes. But tens of thousands of women are inspired to run for office by her. THAT is winning for women.
4
And this is why Mrs. Clinton was not my favorite. I didn't care for the way she dismissed men and overplayed women in her work and in her life.
1
This article draws heavy conclusions from a single example. Yet we've had many more women in power, all of which had their own personalities. Angela Merkel is very different compared to Margret Thatcher who was very different from Tansu Çiller, etc.
Merkel's personality worked in the context of Germany azt the current time. It doesn't mean that it is a blueprint for women to get into power.
What surely doesn't work though is relying on the "woman card". Your biology is no reason to vote for you, but when it is your most important message, voters will feel that there really is no reason to vote for you.
Merkel, Thatcher, etc. weren't elected because or despite they were women. They were elected because they were seen as the best available option in terms of their program, their personality, their perceived knowledge and the trust that they could solve the issues.
7
Women should not have to "call themselves" anything. Women are over one-half the population of the world and there is no reason to exclude them from full participation in society at every level. None.
Centuries ago a bunch of men who probably were either homosexuals or non-sexual beings started the catholic church. They must have realized that their "model" of society would self-destruct because it would not advance humanity. No kids. So they devised this elaborate scheme to suppress the rights of women and dictate how they could live their lives so humanity could go on and the "priests" could pretend to be the pipeline to some elusive god.
Women must rid themselves of these ridiculous ideas, step up and take one-half the power in the world. The male model is one of fear-anger-hate-death-destruction-rape-pillage-plunder-WAR-Lies,Lies,Lies so they can retain power over the rest of us. No more. Women must add balance to the equation if we are to have relative peace and stability for the masses.
You Go, Ms. Merkel, in whatever way suits your style!
4
Neither should women have to behave like men and deny every single bit of their femaleness in order to be successful in politics (in this country and apparently Germany) but they do.
2
That fact that she will likely be reelected heartens me. I am frightened when thinking of the emergent right wing and fascist parties in many countries. Germany has this, but they are still without much general support.
3
"The World's Most Powerful Woman Won't Call Herself a Feminist"
A cliché, but actions often speak louder than words. Growing numbers of future female US political candidates might benefit from Mrs. Merkel's experience, absent true gender equality.
8
The problem in the US is that even if a female politician adopted the neutral, sexless style of Angela Merkel, our country would never let her forget for a minute that she is female, and therefore, different.
13
Exactly the opposite. Clinton ran as a woman, and never let us forget that. It didn't work. How in the world can you know that if she ran "neutral" she would have lost? The other way certainly didn't work. Maybe you can get over yourself and support a great leader, not a great woman leader.
1
So true! This country is as sexist as it is racist.
3
It is insulting to speak of Angela Merkel as sexless. There are many ways to be a woman.
1
"unsex me", but not exactly like Lady Macbeth.
'
1
What a grossly misleading headline Ms Merkel does not call herself a feminist because she lives in a culture that values gender equality, the advancement of women and where most women work. It was a given in east Germany that women would be highly educated and equal contributors to the State. It is uniquely white American (women of color historically work) to expect women to stay home and bake cookies and have scorn and contempt for those who declare they don't and won't. German women, like most Nordic women, don't need to declare they are feminists. They are by their existence and most men around them are, too. That's the culture. The misogyny directed at Ms Clinton this past year has been terrifying to me. It was a smash in the face to see how ingrained sexism and woman hating is in our culture. It is a shame high profile women with a platform like Ms Chira and Ms Chozick try to pretend we live in a gender neutral society. It is impossible to ignore the role misogyny played in the election and denying it won't make the men in your workplace think you are one of them.
45
I would add: in EU countries that are secular in outlook (as Nordic countries are) and are not still trying to evolve beyond Catholic patriarchy (as Ireland is), women don't have to fight for autonomy over their bodies and equal rights. The name of that fight is feminism. When the war is won, you get to declare victory and move on.
4
I think it’s just as bad to denigrate women who prefer a domestic career and work very hard at that for no pay and no support from society. Women in Germany get a generous parenting leave and can return to their jobs after. I don’t see how simply holding a job makes one a feminist?
6
It's not holding a job that makes you a feminist. It's believing that the choice is yours
2
"Her success raises a question newly relevant after Hillary Clinton’s loss. Her success raises a question newly relevant after Hillary Clinton’s loss: Is this stealth strategy the most effective way for women to gain and wield power? "
Stealth ? This misses the mark by a mile
It is competence, that propelled Ms. Merkel to the top. Not in a million years is Ms. Clinton in the same league. Ms. Clinton is, to be blunt, incompetent at politics. Ms Merkel's closest equivalent in the US would be Schumer, a politician who has NEVER lost a SINGLE race since entering politics, full time at age 24.
And please note "“She (Ms. Merkel) came to power by an act of breathtaking ruthlessness,” her route to power is lined with the political cadavers of a dozen and a half of these princes.” I.e. competitors that tried to take her on.
As is the route of Mr. Schumer.
11
Ms. Markel's legacy of open borders will be judged by the degree of long-term assimilation into Western culture of people from disparate backgrounds. Let's hope for the sake of the Europe she was right.
7
That has nothing to do with her gender. And that is the way it should be. But it can't be that way while the feminists in this country insist that everything be seen through their feminist lens, and institutions like the NY Times keep publishing it.
1
The great irony of Hillary Clinton was that the only thing that ever stood in her way to power was her lack of humility.
7
Yeah, she should know her place. What was she thinking? She should have been humble and soft spoken like her opponent, Donald Trump.
Ps- your comment made me want to scream in frustration
9
The truth will do that sometimes.
Ah, humility - the virtue which all US presidents must possess.
2
Substitute Barack Obama's name and black for Merkel's and feminist and the editorial could have been written about our last president, right down to the citizen comments.
The piece in the article about Merkel losing her legacy when she leaves office because she is not self promoting is almost scary. Germany should take note of the American election following Obama or the country may end up with a Trump-like character as president.
5
It would seem that the author of this piece is somehow slighted by the fact that Angela Merkel does not play the gender card. Bravo. She just does not play into it. Unlike Hillary, who with her retinue of people who worked everyday on her hair, makeup and clothing, and it showed, did nothing to improve her image with much of the public. It just made her look self indulgent, a bit spoiled and quite expensive no doubt at her supporters expense.
9
Here's a hint: if you want to run for President, don't wear a $12,500 Armani jacket.
A female candidate should look sharp and classy, but buy her clothing at normal department stores -- she doesn't have to wear cheap stuff, but you can't go full blown "designer" items at five figure price tags.
Hillary just handed ammo to the other side.
Also: calling half of the voters in the nation "deplorables" will undo anything you wear or say otherwise.
3
Really!! Do you think "our" society would mock Hillary more if she did not wear make-up? There is no excuse other than Hillary was being undermined by Bernie, (yes) with unrealistic goals; and the Russian card! Read What Happened.
2
Diane: to say those things -- the Russian "card"? LOL -- is to remove from Hillary all responsibility for her failures and poor decisions. She ran an awful campaign, and lost to a man who went in with virtually no chance -- he should have lost to her in a landslide. That wasn't "Russians". That was not poor old Bernie Sanders. THAT WAS HILLARY, lock stock and barrel. (PS: read the book "Shattered" for a full explanation).
1
Angela Merkel grew up in Communism saw first hand how harmful wrong ideas can be when taken seriously. If you take Feminism seriously you get Title IX undermining the rule of law in our Universities.
8
Independently from her gender Merkel spawned a new type of politician, that put themselves into a contrast of populists like Donald Trump, Nigel Farage, Boris Johnson, Wladimir Putin or Recep Erdoğan.
But this includes a whole different political environment, starting with a media, that can sell a painful slow and sophisticated backdoor negotiation to an audience, that is usually addicted to hyped soccer matches.
Merkels real reward is making being boring bliss, and let the media go along with.
4
The leader of the free world graduate university, had opportunities outside the home, and is not a feminist ?
hhmmm.... (I am scratching my head here...)
I can't really comment right now, as I am too busty trying to catch up financially to my male counterparts, having been paid 17% less than my male counterparts for my entire professional career. (and 17% is the "best" percentage it's been).
3
Assuming you are a degreed professional, Ms. Mackinnon...you are paid the same or only very slightly less than your male peers.
The "gap" in female wages has ALWAYS been because women choose pink collar or part time work, to accommodate their families.
You can't seriously expect a Denny's waitress or a manicurist to make as much as an engineer or computer programmer.
The $$$ difference in college-degreed professions is very small or non-existent.
4
She said that in substance that since she had not fought for gender equality she felt that the label didn't apply to her. This was humility, not a rejection of feminism.
(I am laughing at the "too busty"!)
Don't confuse them with facts - they don't like facts remember (but yes).
2
As a woman working in a male professional environment, I couldn't agree more with the conclusion of this article.
Yes, adopting a "uniform" that includes pants and is quite "gender-neutral" is clearly the best way to be taken serious and as a consequence, to be able to get promotions based on the content of your work.
But even that isn't always enough. One day, a brilliant university professor told me that he'd never ever take a female assistant, because each time he tried to do so, at the beginning of his career, he picked highly competent women and then couldn't but fall in love with them, which complicated everything. So in order to no longer have any "complications", he now only hires male assistants.
As soon as you start to dress in a more female way, part of your male colleagues inevitably spread rumors about how you're not that competent, when it comes to the very content of your job. And then of course there's the suspicion that WHEN you get a promotion, it cannot be but because you slept with your boss.
As long as we don't teach our boys how to deal with their own masculinity in a more intelligent way, and continue, as a culture, to cultivate hollow conceptions of what it means to be a "real man", where "alpha" stands for "macho" and "macho" for encouraging disrespect for women in general AND for your own vulnerability as a man, women will have to continue to hide their gender, and men continue to suffer from essentially ignoring who they are.
5
What? Really? And this proves something? I've heard the story about the professor falling in love with female assistants and so hiring only male ones from there on out. It's an urban legend, and you've made up a story around it to try and make a point. It's impossible to prove you're lying, but that doesn't make it "OK" to make these things up. You seem much like Rush Limbaugh who said in an interview he felt it was OK to make things up if he thought they could be true.
2-2-2016 - The NY Times reported that molecular biologist Jason Lieb resigned from his professorship at the University of Chicago after the university recommended that he be fired for sexually harassing a number of female graduate students.
The Times also reported he probably shouldn't have been hired in the first place, as the faculty had received e-mails warning that he had been accused of misconduct while he was at Princeton and the University of North Carolina.
Well, this was no "urban legend".
This prompted an insight that actually startled me: not only did Hilary Clinton emphasize her exceptionality as, potentially, the first woman president, it seemed that many of the issues she emphasized were considered by red state Americans to be exceptional. Trans-gendered bathrooms was a paradigmatic example.
3
It accounts for much of her unpopularity. Obama didn't run as "the first black president" and Hillary should never have taken the approach she took.
1
It seems she is in power because she earned it, she quietly played her cards; I love the comment;
Ms. Merkel, she said, learned that “you shut up, put up, and watch out for an opportunity, all the while trying not to get hurt.”
She respected the intellect, intelligence, protocol of the game;
she won respect, I believe that. There are women in the world like that, many are liked in their lines of work, STEM, the same rules play. I think it could work in this country but the media would need to become non-important, well on the way.
6
Why should Merkel call herself a feminist. Isn't the basic premise of feminism that woman are equal to men in regard to the factors that are relevant to their being able to perform equally to men, and that therefore the fact that they are woman is of no relevance to their suitability to do whichever job it is that is at issue. So to make a point of the fact that she is a woman and stress how she can perform just as well as a man could would be no different than had Obama came out and made the same point about his skin color. About how he didn't stress the point that he has black skin and is half black and the fact that he can perform his job as president just as well as a white man can should show that race is not a factor and plays no role in a person's capabilities.
4
Angela Merkel is the leader of the free world. The UK and US have sidelined themselves with Brexit and "America First." Merkel is smart, tough, modern and she gets the job done. Such a contrast to our "leader."
19
She is a contrast to most of leaders since Reagan...including Hillary Clinton who couldn't pack Merkel's lunch.
Angela Merkel is a plough horse, not a show horse. And I mean that as the ultimate compliment.
In a political world today filled with preening peacocks and self-aggrandizing egomaniacs, she is a refreshing throwback to a saner, more thoughtful, purpose-driven kind of leader.
Even if I don't agree with her on every issue, she deserves our utmost respect.
16
I respected her until she did a complete 180º and threw open the doors of Europe to unvetted Muslim economic immigrants, who have swarmed there by the millions and will shortly start to institute the New Caliphate.
Merkel has destroyed Europe and Germany; they just don't realize it yet -- like the frog being boiled alive.
3
Back in the 1980s when I was a reporter, I interviewed Sally Ride shortly after she had been named the first woman U.S. astronaut. She declined to label herself a feminist. Who cares? It turns out that she also was a lesbian. Who cares? She did great work and was an inspiration for generations of girls. Isn't it time we stopped looking for the "first woman" anything? It's clear that women can do just about any job, and Angela Merkel demonstrates that.
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Except that today often you ONLY "can do just about any job", as a woman, IF you accept to adopt a gender-neutral approach to EVEN basic things such as clothing and for the rest shut up about discrimination against women and women's rights.
And it's because of that discrimination that so many jobs are still done by men, whereas women are clearly as apt as men once they are hired. And as long as that's the case, there remains a glass ceiling, and breaking it will remain "breaking news".
As a girl, I was raised in a gender neutral way, my parents telling me that I'm perfectly entitled to do the same things as boys of my age. So when I was 16 and had a feminist teacher for the very first time, I found her activism quite boring and didn't understand what she was talking about. Now that I'm working as a woman in a predominantly male professional world, however, I cannot but say that I became a feminist too. Not in the sense that I hate men (on the contrary), but yes, there's still a LOT of inequality of opportunity in this country, and that's the case only because of the distorted view men (and some women) have of what it means to be a woman or a man.
So there still is a lot of work to do, unfortunately, and although I will never judge women who opt for gender-neutral behavior at work in order to be able to concentrate on content (I'm actually doing so myself), it's absolutely certain that more than ever we need to discuss this issue publicly, and urgently change mentalities.
2
I just wonder why some women fear the term “feminist”?
6
It has been used as a bogeyman by the right ..so much so that the idea of feminists as man hating humorless extremists scolds has pervaded our consciousness. There are other kinds of feminists and we should not be afraid to call ourselves what we are.
3
The fact that Ms Merkel is a woman seems to play no part in how German voters vote. This is a sign of maturity and greater equality between men and women than in countries where a great deal is made of a candidate's gender. In France, the leading female candidate for the presidential election was Ms Le Pen a far rightist that feminists (quite rightly) did not want in power.
This shows that theories of the impact of role models are misguided. Justice and equality hardly depend on the gender or race of a particular leader but, of course, justice and equality mean that race or gender should not be a barrier to success in any field. The fact that Obama was elected president was historic but he did not significantly improve the lot of African Americans. Merkel proves that women can do it (like Rosie the riveter) without even referring to gender. A great achievement. Merkel is a ruthless Machiavellian politician as the article implies, like most successful politicians of any gender. She is also smart and dedicated. And a conservative of a very different stripe from the terrible US president.
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((For me it’s always been important, and I won’t deviate from this, that I try to be as I am, and that I’m well prepared for the substance.”))
From the cacophony of behavioral suggestions to young girls from all sides these days, the above statement from Merkel is the best effective and the best one any parent can give to their young daughters
17
Beyond the silliness of her thesis - that a powerful woman is somehow in the wrong if she doesn't "come out" as a feminist - Susan Chira misses an important point: political feminism loses elections. The women who have gotten elected around the world know this. Chira should leave behind the agonizing over the label any woman applies to herself and focus on what the woman is doing, and not just on women's issues.
PS: The U.S. is perfectly capable of electing a woman president, just not a feminist.
17
Obama has always been calling himself a feminist, and his policies have significantly reduced gender inequality in this country.
So maybe it's only when you're a man that you can allow to be a feminist and can still be elected ... ?
That being said, Hillary did win the popular vote, and it took incredible meddling from Putin and Comey's letter to make her lose, in the end, the electoral college vote. So I don't think that Hillary is a good example of the idea that women who are openly feminists can't win elections. It rather seems as if a lot of powerful men at home AND abroad have to conspire together before it becomes possible to prevent a feminist woman from becoming president of the US ... ;-)
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Couldn't agree more. But one thing -- the office of the American President does not really exist in the same form in most other countries, as a separate branch of the government. England has a Prime Minister and Germany a Chancellor. The USA has had a woman as Speaker of the House, which might be a better comparison.
Ana Luisa: the left must simply stop saying that. Hillary only won those votes in ONE state -- a sanctuary state that lets illegal aliens vote! Obviously most of those votes came from illegals.
And even if not so....the US Presidency is not determined by a popular vote. You might as well claim "but she won the Pillsbury Bake Off!"
Hillary and her team knew the rules GOING IN. They are no mystery. The Democrats lost a heartbreaker in 2000 and DID NOTHING TO CHANGE THE SYSTEM -- why not? because sometimes it works to your advantage.
3
It is no matter if a leader is a male or female. If the leader is trustworthy, people follow him or her. Angela Merkel has been used to such circumstances because she came from East Germany where men and women work equally on principle.
9
Modesty is appealing no matter one's gender.
As for Angela Merkel's wardrobe, the thing I recall is the time when George Bush massaged her bare shoulders at some sort of state dinner, and her husband ran over to rescue her. Perhaps that's the last strapless dress she wore.
2
Not sue what you remember but it wasn't a state dinner, the dress wasn't strapless
and her husband was not around.
2
I think you may have mixed different memories.
2
not what happened at all but fascinating
2
Calling yourself a feminist just brings on a flood of abuse. I'm a feminist but I've learned better than to say so in mixed company. Susan Faludi's book, "Backlash," has never been more relevant.
1
She strikes me as a woman that understands the intricacies of the world we live in. That is to be applauded.
12
Ms. Merkel was disciplined, very precise and had a proper exercise of duty in her first job. Beyond that she got her most important job as chancellor because she was more courageuos, more diligent and could rely on better abilities than her male competitors. Then she had been great in avoiding mistakes. Even in recent years the number of errors is relatively small in comparison with other leaders and her mistakes never are threatening survival. (Don´t listen to trolls, look at the polls.) So she simply did a better job - and she knows this.
She never played the "woman" or "feminist" card for her jobs and she never needed some kind of "affirmative action" to get her office because she never needed this. So she has a quite strong distrust when somebody shows up and claims for a job only because this person is this or that - a woman or a feminist for example. She did not get her job this way a and she can´t stand people who are not good enough for their jobs and need to rely on compensations. Promotion of women only because the person is female is not her thing. What she cant stand is unfair discrimination of qualified women but that´s all.
And because term and effects of feminism aren´t properly defined these are not the best term for a natural scientist anyway.
15
Read the article again. Angela Merkel "came to power by an act of breathtaking ruthlessness". When given the opportunity, she figuratively stabbed her mentor in the back. East Germans were very familiar with this kind of hardball political behavior, and Merkel was not afraid to use it.
Hillary Clinton played too nice, and got no respect for it. Future female American politicians should remember this, and channel their "inner tiger".
1
Or maybe the lesson is, if you base your politics on pitting one identity group against another, minorities against the majority, men against women, etc., you can expect the attacked group to react accordingly?
Merkel seems to realize that, Hillary did not.
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I thought you were talking about women who were being attacked and repressed and put down therefore needed to react. Hillary led us in that charge. Merkel doesn't.
Germany has a lower percentage of labor participation rate by women than China, the Scandinavian countries, the US, UK, etc. Not many women are in in politics despite Merkel. It is not a model of gender equality as some here seem to think.
1
Will emphasising gender help or hurt? How many men, who would have otherwise voted for you or stayed at home, will vote for the opponent now. Versus how many extra votes will women deliver. Who knows? There is also no obvious moral superiority in using one strategy or the other. It may be enticing to compare Clinton to Merkel, but there isn't anything much to be learned from these two individual fates. My personal opinion is that Clinton is just a very poor frontrunner. The things she does when she's ahead are exactly the things that bring her down, Greek tragedy style.
4
How sad that in 2017 that this article's title is about the world's most powerful woman who won't call herself a feminist, as if feminist is dirty word. It feels like we're back in the 1960's-1970's when the right wing Republicans scorned the title and ultimately scared the country into not ratifying the ERA. How have we managed to loop back upon ourselves? Why are some portions of our population so afraid of women?
18
Merkel doesn't do identity politics. She stands for principled pragmatism, European integration, and what German Christian-Democrats call "social market economy".
Principled pragmatism and an unwavering commitment to excellence in FREE public education and health-care would also be a winning ticket for American Democrats. But, alas, Democrats prefer to obsess over defining and defending the rights of micro-tribes while singing the praises of neoliberalism.
This article is a case in point, and shows once more that the Democrats still refuse to acknowledge the root causes of their defeat. I'm afraid Trump will be a two-term president unless Mueller forces him to resign. The Democrats sure can't defeat him at the polls.
18
I believe national (and international) politics are merely a JumboTron reflection of our smaller lives and cultures. What surprised me when I immigrated to this beautiful country from Pakistan over 32 years ago was how similar our basic human proclivities were. This article is another reminder that they still are.
When my then-new (now ex) mother-in-law suggested that the most effective way to ultimately "rule" your husband was to let him subjugate you at first, I had bristled. How demeaning, how tasteless!
However, the technique had worked for her. Not only did she submit early in the marriage - devoted herself to home and hearth and her new husband's comforts with passionate abandon - but then also employed a Merkel-style takeover. Hardly the feminist, my ex-mother in law came to gradual domestic power through her own brand of breathtaking ruthlessness. Sensing her husband's basic niceness (weakness), she ultimately became the family decision-maker and holder of the purse-strings. Within a few years, he pretty much did what he was told.
Is the world not ready yet for equality of expression and style between the genders? Or are their elemental differences between us that will always require women to tread softly, at least at first?
Let's try this and see: Raise our little boys with a sense of equality with their sisters, have them help around the house alongside their sisters and mothers, and if at all possible, their fathers.
6
Angela Merkel does what is most important, she shows that she is able to maintain a calm outward demeanor while presenting her views and her decisions concerning the most important questions 21st century political leaders must deal with.
She is highly educated, holding a Ph.D. in physical chemistry, and speaks English and Russian in addition to her mother tongue. When and wherever she appears in public to speak she makes it so easy to see that this particular woman can hold her own against any man or woman you might put beside her to challenge her views.
She shows by doing and being, not declaring. For many of us here in Europe and I hope also in my own USA, she is the leader of the Free World, one who has better things to do than waging wars all over the world.
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
Dual citizen US SE
46
Why should we conclude, as you state in your opening sentence, that Angela Merkel shuns a feminist label and offers modesty, caution and diligent preparation as an implicit contrast to male swagger?
It seems natural to me to conclude that she's offering a clear contrast to people who are immodest, incautious, and unprepared or who present themselves as better qualified for leadership because of their gender.
I don't associate Lincoln, FDR, Ike, Ford, or Carter with braggadocio, recklessness, or a lack of preparation. I don't think I'm ready to concede that those traits correlate with gender.
We all bring our own worldview to bear when we consider a political speech, a film or other work of art, or anything else in life. To me, your opening sentence reveals much more about an influential strain of American feminism than it does about Angela Merkel or men.
50
there are many many countries that have, or have had, women as presidents or prime ministers. i'm not sure if too much can be drawn from merkel's experience compared to all the other women. she seems smart, calm and competent which are not bad things for any leader.
13
In interviews conducted as part of her book tour, Hilary has taken to scoffing at those who said they would gladly vote for a woman, just not THAT woman – thus illustrating exactly why someone might hold the opinion in question. Does she really think that those who are not fans must be misogynists? Imagine if she'd chosen Elizabeth Warren for veep instead of the anti-charismatic Tim Kane.
6
Could a woman--or a man, for that matter--with Angela Merkel's low-key persona be elected president of this country? I highly doubt it.
Parliamentary systems like Germany's reward behind-the-scenes consensus-building rather than showboating. Preferential election of slates of deputies to the Bundestag further de-emphasizes personality.
We, on the other hand, ask charisma (or at least glitz) of our presidential candidates; they're supposed to entertain us. One might wish that the founders had separated the offices of head of state and head of government; since the Constitution is regarded as having been handed down on Mount Sinai, however, it's most unlikely we'll ever see that division instituted here.
82
Parliamentary systems are just the smaller part of this prudence. Media, lobbyism, gerrymendering, everything in the USA must get on the test bench.
Merkel wouldn't stand a chance in an US-election, or even after winning an election, in an american government. This has nothing to do with her gender, this is just how poisened the american political class has become.
3
@Richard
I appreciate your aside of "since the Constitution is regarded as having been handed down on Mount Sinai." I have for a very long time waited for discussion on how to apply this very old document to a very new world. I sometimes see mentioned "originalism" and "original intent," but there is little discussion of their extent or their relevance.
The contrast between Merkel and Clinton is striking: the German chancellor is stoic, singleminded and low-key. Above all, she is not spoiled. Clinton believes the world owes her things and is consummately spoiled.
23
Please share with us examples of her belief that the world owes her "things" and that she is "consummately spoiled". I believe that she has consistently shown herself to be the opposite of these things. She has pursued lifelong goals of public service, has worked hard at them and has conducted herself with maturity, dignity, intelligence. Maybe you could also provide examples of our "president's" comparative selflessness in his devotion to public service.
9
Clinton has worked tirelessly and is incredibly informed and able.
I think having golden bathrooms, playing endless golf and being surrounded by sycophants is more what I'd call spoiled.
6
Please look up the record and stop buying cheap talking points and propaganda. If you believe that, you have never opened your mind and taken an honest look. You can gang up with others of like mind on social media, but Hillary Clinton has been stoic and endured insult for a quarter century. I don't think you could do as much.
7
Gender is not an issue for men. We will only reach true equality when it is not an issue for women either. Whether by chance or design, Merkel has found a gender-less way of leading. I think it is a good model for the next (post-feminist?) generation.
44
"Gender is not an issue for men." Misogynistic to assert this demonstrably false statement; delusional for both men and women to believe it. Not addressing the issue directly is a strategy that has worked for Merkel in a European society where there are very few women in roles of power outside of Parliamentary politics. But that doesn't mean that the issue isn't central. In fact, her silence is evidence of the centrality of gender as an issue for how men and women judge women in power (or in the pursuit of power).
Angela Merkel isn't merely the most powerful woman in the world. She has been the leader of the free world for more than a decade. Americans simply assume that our president automatically deserves that title. He doesn't.
105
This one obviously doesn't.
President Obama certainly did.
2
I would say that she was one of the leaders of the free world. I would have counted Obama, Trudeau and Hollande, among some others.
Now, we have Trudeau, Macron and Merkel as the core group. We are no longer led by a president who believes in freedom of the press or true democracy.
1
Why do Americans obsess with the title of the "leader of the free world"? Isn't it rather imperialistic? The Germans would not declare Merkel as such for a good reason!
Markel is exactly right not allowing herself to be labeled in such a way. She is just another person running for office and gender plays no role in it. Only in America do we assign such value to something that makes no difference. We have much to learn.
68
I came of age when Betty Friedan was empowering women with information and inspiration to gain their rightful place in our society with all the possible education, liberation and career choices we could aspire to have.
At that time as a working class professional nurse, I never saw myself as a feminist. I was a nurse, then a wife and mother who always worked. With the advent of my daughter and two sons, I found it distasteful to label myself a feminist; I was always a humanist.
So at age 71 years, humanist feels pretty good.
39
@ JRS RTP - At age 85, I too find that humanist feels pretty good to which I add race, human.
I think I would like to see a column maybe at the Stone - Are you a humanist? - to see which of Times comment writers would check in with "Yes, that fits me best."
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
Dual citizen US SE
3
And JRS, you did more good in the world as an unknown woman who became a nurse and helped other people than some of the feminists.
Often times the unsung heroes are NOT the Betty Friedans or Hillary Clintons.
They are the ordinary people of the world, be they men or women who are striving to just be good people and accomplish good things.
1
Why “distasteful”? How does “feminist” clash with “...wife and mother who always worked.”?
3
I admire Angela Merkel very much, and of course the way she is approaching the gender issue (ignoring it) is preferable, if it works. I'm a feminist, but I certainly wouldn't announce it if I were running for office. Mrs. Clinton tried to downplay the gender issue when she ran against Mr. Obama, and my understanding is she was advised to try it differently the second time around. Of course, the stars did not align to give her an opening to walk into (like Mr. Kohl being rocked by scandal) as Angela Merkel benefited from. Women at the top of politics are trying to thread the needle, because people criticize them whatever they do. Angela Merkel has found a way to make it work, and more power to her. Hillary Clinton has my deepest respect and I am sorry she has faced so much antagonism.
81