Beech Tree News Network

Lately, there has been a lot of back and forth on social media concerning whether women can effectively lead a nation. There are three women leaders I’ve admired for various reasons throughout my life. You can judge their effectiveness for yourself.

You can find the story of Deborah, Judge of Israel, in the Old Testament.  After the days of Moses and his associates, Joshua and Caleb, God appointed judges to lead the people of Israel.  Deborah, the wife of Lappidoth, and prophetess was one of those judges.  The army of Jabin, led by their commander, Sisera, was a thorn in Israel’s side.  God sent word to Deborah to call Barak to lead the armies of Israel against Sisera and his men, and God would give the victory to Israel.  Barak told Deborah he would do as God instructed if she, Deborah, would go with him.  Deborah agreed but told him he would not get credit for the victory, rather a woman would.  To his credit, he agreed to the terms.  God kept His end of the bargain, the enemy was routed, but Sisera escaped to a nearby friend’s tent.  The friend wasn’t home, but the friend’s wife, Jael, was there.  She offered him a place to take a nap, then drove a tent peg through his skull—that had to hurt!  Israel sang hers and Deborah’s praises.  Israel had peace for 40 years after that battle.  I’ve always admired Deborah’s faith that God put her in a place of authority in the midst of a patriarchal society.

Golda Meir, fourth prime minister of Israel (1969-1974), was the first and only female head of government in that country and the first in the Middle East.  Her family came from Ukraine, while it was still part of Russia, then immigrated to the US in 1906, when she was just eight years old.  She was educated in this country and found work as a teacher.  In 1921, she and her new husband immigrated to Mandatory Palestine—Israel was not yet a nation.  During WWII, she held roles in the “Jewish Agency,” and was one of the people who signed the Israel Declaration of Independence in 1948.  She served as both Labor Minister and Foreign Minister until becoming Prime Minister of Israel in 1969 (Wikipedia.org).  Golda Meir is a controversial figure, not just on the world stage—she was considered a bit of a Zionist—but also in Israel—she is blamed for the Israeli army’s losses during the outbreak of the Yom Kippur War in 1973—Israel was caught off guard and suffered early casualties to its army.  I understand that there are two sides to the Israel/Palestine conflict.  I’ve always admired Golda Meir for what she did for the Jewish people during the years of early statehood.  There were many Jews immigrating into the newly formed country, and under her term as Labor Minister, she introduced major housing and road construction projects, established social security, maternity benefits, benefits to widows and orphans and burial costs (wiki.org).  She was the common man’s and woman’s advocate.

I was fortunate to get to hear Wilma Mankiller speak before she passed away.  Mankiller (the name is a Cherokee military rank, like captain or major) was the first female Chief of the Cherokee Nation, and she was a force to be reckoned with.  Her people’s native identity was important to her.  Under her administration, she implemented programs that brought water, housing, health clinics, ambulance services and both early and adult education.  She did this through self-help grants.  It was important to her that her people be part of the solution to making their lives better.  She had a difficult early childhood—poverty and rejection by white schoolmates—and an adult life plagued with illness and accident—two kidney transplants and 17 operations and plastic surgery after a car accident (Wikipedia.org).  In a 1993 interview with NPR, she said the car crash and its aftermath led her to accept “a Cherokee approach to life.”  She clarified by saying, “I think the Cherokee approach to life is being able to continually move forward with kind of a good mind and not focus on the negative things in your life and the negative things you see around you, but focus on positive things and try to look at the larger picture and keep moving forward.”  Wilma Mankiller’s attitude and her refusal to quit is why I admire her. (Do yourself a favor and read her autobiography: Mankiller: A Chief and Her People.)

All three of these women were the first of their kind:  first female judge, first female prime minister; first female chief.  I don’t think they will be the last.