Recently, I shared this video recently that makes me cry every time I see it. Despite my tears, I realized I am not totally familiar with each of these amazing women's stories. So I decided to share them here in case you aren't familiar with all of them either.
ANGELA MERKEL
Angela Merkel is a German politician and a former research scientist, who has been the Chancellor of Germany since 2005 and the leader of the Christian Democratic Union since 2000. She is the first woman to hold either office, the first German Chancellor to be born after World War II, and the first post-reunification Chancellor to be raised in the former East Germany.
Having earned a doctorate as a physical chemist, Merkel entered politics in the wake of the Revolutions of 1989, briefly serving as the deputy spokesperson for the first democratically elected East German Government in 1990. She was later appointed as the Federal Minister for Women and Youth in 1991 under Chancellor Helmut Kohl, and became the Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation, and Nuclear Safety in 1994, serving until 1998. After the CDU/CSU coalition was defeated in 1998, she was elected Secretary-General of the CDU, before being elected the party's first ever woman as leader in 2000.
Following the 2005 federal election, she was appointed Germany's first female Chancellor. In 2007, Merkel was President of the European Council and chaired the G8, the second woman (after Margaret Thatcher) to do so. She played a central role in the negotiation of the Treaty of Lisbon and the Berlin Declaration. Merkel is seen as playing a crucial role in managing the financial crisis at the European and international level, and has been referred to as "the decider." In domestic policy, health care reform and problems concerning future energy development have been major issues of her tenure.
As the first female leader of the world's third largest economic power, Merkel has secured her place in posterity. She has set out in her speeches a vision of a more unified Europe founded on common values, freedom and a commitment to extend freedom, to protect human rights and to nurture peace around the world. She is also committed to achieving ecological sustainability. It is by the multiplication of leaders whose visions are wider than the local or even the regional which consider the needs of all people and of the planet on which we live that will result in it truly becoming our common home, instead of a shared grave.
Having earned a doctorate as a physical chemist, Merkel entered politics in the wake of the Revolutions of 1989, briefly serving as the deputy spokesperson for the first democratically elected East German Government in 1990. She was later appointed as the Federal Minister for Women and Youth in 1991 under Chancellor Helmut Kohl, and became the Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation, and Nuclear Safety in 1994, serving until 1998. After the CDU/CSU coalition was defeated in 1998, she was elected Secretary-General of the CDU, before being elected the party's first ever woman as leader in 2000.
Following the 2005 federal election, she was appointed Germany's first female Chancellor. In 2007, Merkel was President of the European Council and chaired the G8, the second woman (after Margaret Thatcher) to do so. She played a central role in the negotiation of the Treaty of Lisbon and the Berlin Declaration. Merkel is seen as playing a crucial role in managing the financial crisis at the European and international level, and has been referred to as "the decider." In domestic policy, health care reform and problems concerning future energy development have been major issues of her tenure.
As the first female leader of the world's third largest economic power, Merkel has secured her place in posterity. She has set out in her speeches a vision of a more unified Europe founded on common values, freedom and a commitment to extend freedom, to protect human rights and to nurture peace around the world. She is also committed to achieving ecological sustainability. It is by the multiplication of leaders whose visions are wider than the local or even the regional which consider the needs of all people and of the planet on which we live that will result in it truly becoming our common home, instead of a shared grave.
*To read all posts in my BRAVE WOMEN series click here.
1 comment
Awesome. I'm awed by people like this, so smart and capable. I would have no idea what to do.
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