Hatshepsut was the first female pharaoh of Egypt. Writing in View from the Ark of the Catholic Times, a professor wonders how a woman could be a pharaoh back 3,500 years ago when women were considered the possession of men.
She was the daughter of Pharaoh Thutmose I. After the death of her father, her half-brother and husband became pharaoh. They had one daughter, from a royal concubine. Thutmose III was born but died early, and she became Pharaoh.
She wore men's clothes and even a fake beard. In later times, her rule was seen as a time of great progress, launching building programs and bringing prosperity. Her reign was known as a time of peace. Instead of pyramids built by her predecessors, she started cutting back by building obelisks: beginning a new tradition. She united upper and lower Egypt and ushered in a time of peace. She is remembered as a woman who received great respect from the citizens.
In the world today, we have many women in political leadership positions around the world. They have broken the unfair system that prevented a woman from reaching top positions in society. Chancellor Angela Merkel has been elected three times and the first woman to lead the country. She has shown a strong stand in dealing with migration and terror, and other crises, the personification of a mother as a leader of a country.
Liberia's president has with patience, and nonviolence changed a system of government, and in Croatia, Kolinda- Grabar-Kitarovic has with her simple honest attitude got rid of the authoritarianism in the government of Croatia with which the people had grown tired.
The world today is different from the world of 3,500 years ago, No longer is the feminine seen as a fault but something that we need in society. There is a need for a mother's approach in the way a country is led.
Fiercer, competitive, combative and at times more destructive than men is not what we are looking for in women leaders but women with a mother's instincts. She finishes her article by hoping that we will have more of this leadership in the world.
In the recent election in Korea on April 13, there were 100 women who registered to compete and 844 men vying for 253 seats. 51 women were elected: 4 more than in the last election.
