Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite totally wants to have a glass of wine with us (Credit: Wikimedia Commons)
One need only look at the Oval Office to see that when it comes to politics, we've got a bit of a gender discrepancy. In this weekly roundup, we focus on powerful political women in the news who are helping to break the proverbial glass ceiling of policy-making. Politicos, move aside. We bring you . . . politicas.
Dalia Grybauskaite
Lithuania's president recently conducted her first interview with the Indian media—for Times of India—and it's been making the news rounds all week. Among many topics, Grybauskait addressed women in politics, including this ever-so-astute quote:
So it is important for women to find their voice in politics—local, national and global. Institutional quotas for women politicians are not enough. A real solution requires determination and effort both from women and societies at large. We cannot expect to have democracy in the full sense of the word if women remain excluded.
Specifically, democracy needs women like Grybauskaite, who we officially want at all our future dinner parties. Not only is she her country's first female president, but she recently became the first ever to be re-elected into that position. Plus, she has a doctorate in economics and once served as the country's finance minister (who doesn't love a woman who knows her way around the male-dominated field of finance)? And because if you're going to being badass, you might as well commit to the cause, she also has a black belt in karate.
Dear Grybauskait, please be our best friend. Love, Ravishly.
Trish Kelly
Male politicians are routinely forgiven for being caught with their pants down, but it seems female politicians can't even talk about the dirty deed without getting canned. In Vancouver, Canada, Trish Kelly learned this the hard way when she was forced to drop out of the race for the city's park board because of backlash over an artistic video she made about masturbation eight years ago.
Happily, she didn't go out with a whimper.
Speaking to the Globe and Mail about her decision to be honest about her time as a self-proclaimed "sex-positive" erotic artist and writer, she said:
Are we willing to give permission to politicians to be authentic? Or do we want politicians not owning their history in order to fit into a small box?
(Answer: B!) Kelly also spoke candidly about censorship in the Internet age, noting:
I worry about how what’s happened to me will impact younger people who have lived their entire adolescence, or their entire process of self-actualization, in an era where everything is documented through the Internet. How will they ever feel that they can run for public office?
With her background as a brand manager for a natural foods company, and as a social and environmental activist, it seems Kelly would've made for a fine public servant. She's also openly bisexual and, well, female—which, as The Globe and Mail pointed out, would've made for a nice change in a country with "far too few women in office."
Let us all pray for a mystical future era in which women like this are encouraged to succeed, not fail. Hey, it could happen.
Hillary Clinton
Meanwhile, in Hillary-World, news coverage was relatively ho-hum this week. A tell-all book claims Hillary blames Bill's infidelity on his mother being asbuve to him as a child—but that sensational story has been mostly relegated to the pages of The Daily Mail, the New York Daily News and other tabs.
In more serious news, Hillary has turned up the heat on Putin, saying he "bears responsibility" for the MH17 crash, while stating she stands by her commitment to a "Russian reset." (Sick international affairs burn!)
Meanwhile, Hillary's polling numbers remain strong in key battleground states—promising if, you know, she ever decides to run for president.
And Also . . .
In other news, it turns out people are more likely to vote for women politicians if they have feminine features, proving that even in politics, it pays to conform to society's ideals of female beauty. Also, apparently most women say they won't vote for politicians who support Hobby Lobby. (You don't say!)
Just a couple more reminders that in the fight for fair female representation in politics, we still have a ways to go.
