Truly A New Millennium
If a meeting of women leaders had been held 100 years ago, Queen Victoria would have sat "in solitary splendor."
If she were alive today, she would have 10 colleagues. Not much of an improvement, but it's a start, New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark said Tuesday at a meeting of women leaders at the United Nations Millennium Summit.
Clark and the presidents of Latvia and Finland met in New York with other women in leadership roles, including U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, to discuss issues affecting women and girls as part of the U.N. Millennium Summit.
"The fact that we had a meeting of women world leaders at all attests to the progress that we've accomplished since 1900 when Queen Victoria would have had to be here in solitary splendor," said Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga.
 AP Photo Queen Victoria |
Twenty-nine women have led their countries or governments in the last 100 years. The number seemed small Tuesday at the United Nations, where Tuvalu became the 189th country admitted to the world body.
Tuesday's meeting was sponsored by the Council of Women World Leaders, an elite club whose leader feels something is missing - an American.
"America is a pretty macho place. It would send a big message to the world if the United States had a woman president," said Kim Campbell, who served as Canada's prime minister in 1993. Campbell now heads the Council of Women World Leaders, part of the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
On Tuesday, dozens of women in international leadership roles discussed ways to increase peacekeeping and peacemaking roles for women, improving girls' education, and tackling violence against women.
Former Irish Prime Minister Mary Robinson, who is the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, said women leaders bring "a different set of priorities" to leadership roles and the world must strive to bring an equal balance of views to the decision-making table.
At a news conference, several women discussed the pitfalls of gender and the long distances still to go.
"Women think that if they are not assertive and strong they won't be seen as good leaders. We need to reprogram expectations," Campbell said.
New Zealanders have done so, Clark said.
"We recently announced that our next governor-general will be a woman, our prime minister is a woman, the leader of the opposition is a woman, the cabinet secretary is a woman, the chief justice is a woman."
To chuckles, she added, "However, we are not satisied."
By Dafna Linzer © 2000, The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed