Simone Dilma Rousseff

As Beyoncé would say, girls run the world. However, that has not always been the case. Women in America were finally granted the right of suffrage in 1920. This means that it has been less than 100 years since women have been able to vote. Even more so, women were still not treated equally among society. They were not given equal pay for equal work until the 1960s. Over in France, Simone De Beauvoir was deciding that women have never been in control. However, studies have shown that women in politics are a benefit to any party involved. They are better negotiators and they are good role models for young girls. Women are great at the negotiating table, but the fact of the matter is that they have not had enough opportunities. “Since the founding of the country, only 2% of members of congress have been women. According to

the Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP) the United States has had only 34 female governors to date” (Sanghvi). Why are there not more women in the Unites States in charge? Liberia, South Korea, and Brazil each have heroine oddities leading their country and are very successful as compared to the days of Simone De Beauvoir.
Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf is the first elected female in the head of state in Africa and would be considered an oddity in the eyes of Simone De Beauvoir. In Beauvoir’s time, women were not given power, but rather chores. “That is what is misunderstood by hasty observers who regard woman as not up to the possibilities now offered to her or again who see in these possibilities only dangerous temptations” (Beauvoir). People in the early 1900s did not believe that women were able to handle the stresses of being political leaders. However, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf has done an impeccable job as president of Liberia. Yussef Simmonds is managing editor of the Los Angeles Sentinel and she believes that Johnson-Sirleaf was a blessing for the people of Liberia. “Johnson-Sirleaf was capable of doing, though time has been against her. But based on her financial background, international political observers believe there is no one better to build Liberia's shattered economy than its new president” (Simmonds). This serves to prove that women can be better than men when it comes to politics. They also can be very productive when it comes to reconstruction of the economy.
Today, Geun-hye Park is the president of South Korea, but in the 1900s, Simone De Beauvoir would consider her success to be impossible. However, South Korea is taking new president Park to be a role model for girls everywhere. She proves that women do have power to make change, even in countries where that could seem impossible. Hyung-Jin Kim is a professor at Harvard Medical School and he states that Park serves as an inspiration for young women. “Park becomes the most powerful figure in a country where women are often paid less than men, are often trapped in low-paying jobs despite first-class educations, and often struggle to raise families and pursue careers” (Kim). Women who are determined to make change did not fall into the same category as the common women in the 1950s. Beauvoir suggests that the women who become heroines are the ones who are not subjection to society. “The ambitious woman and the heroine are strange monsters…they brilliantly demonstrate that it is not the inferiority of women that has caused their historical insignificance: it is rather their historical insignificance that has doomed them to inferiority” (Beauvoir). Women today are making history, which will in turn make women leaders in most cultures.
Simone De Beauvoir would consider Dilma Rousseff, president of Brazil, a heroine oddity.

Dilma Rousseff is leader of one of the most booming economies in the world, and has made many attempts to repair relationships with other countries, including the United States. Women in politics make a big difference when it comes to relationships with other countries. She also influences other women to get involved with leadership roles. Alexis Glick is the vice president of business news and she believes that Brazil is prospering. “Small businesses create two out of three jobs in Brazilian Pres. Dilma Rousseff's private sector and 49% of entrepreneurs with companies less than 42 months old are women” (Glick). In Beauvoir’s time, a woman had to get rid of their femininity to be able to become successful. “Queen Isabella, Queen Elizabeth, Catherine the Great were neither male nor female— they were sovereigns. It is remarkable that their femininity, when socially abolished, should no longer have meant inferiority” (Beauvoir). However, in the case of Dilma Rousseff, her femininity does not retract from her successfulness. In fact, it adds to her

success.
Clearly women should be a part of the governments across the world. The Unites States seems to be behind other countries when concerning the power of women. Different opinions could make room for change, and women would finally start being referred to, as total equals. Mark Lansky served as a political alignment advisor of Homes International Inc. and he agrees with Simone De Beauvoir when discussing gender equality. “We live in an era when women's natural aptitudes are being documented. Moreover, today the marketplace needs the female mind. Women have become an enormous economic and social asset” (Lansky). Simone De Beauvoir wrote The Second Sex in the twentieth century, before women like Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was president of Liberia. Also, before Geun-hye Park was rebuilding international relationships within South Korea. It was also previous to Brazil’s booming economy with the help of powerful woman Dilma Rousseff.