As someone who studies leadership, I use the term great leader sparingly. There are a lot of wannabe great leaders, but few truly great leaders. Margaret Thatcher was a great leader. Her death today brings to the end the life of the first female prime minister of a major western country. I did not always agree with either her policies or her leadership style. But, she was determined and uncompromising. She was often called "the iron lady," which was both a tribute to her determination and a slur against women leaders. Men are rarely if ever called "an iron leader." Stalin cultivated the notion of being the man of steel, but few male leaders are compared to metal.
At the present time, Angela Merkel is sometimes called "the iron frau." When a woman leader is determined, she is likely to be labeled in some way that can have a double meaning.
If Hillary Clinton ever becomes president, I suspect she too will be labeled with some variant of "the iron lady."
Margaret was a path breaker. The Iron Lady, the film about her life that came out in the last couple of years did little to tell the story of the real Margaret Thatcher. It had selected flashbacks from a frail elderly lady who appeared to suffer from dementia. Some events were highlighted but the film, despite Meryl's fabulous acting, gave us a distorted view of Margaret Thatcher in power. It was a powerful film on dementia, but not a true political statement of her contributions.
Farewell, Margaret, and rest in peace.
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