A conference in Singapore show that Asian leaders
now seem to use their positions with far more confidence in putting women and
their concerns squarely at the centre of their agendas.
Indira Gandhi, Sri Lanka's Sirimavo Bandaranaike, Pakistan's Benazir Bhutto, Sheikh
Hasina of Bangladesh, Corazon Aquino of the Philippines, and Megawati
Sukarnoputri of Indonesia - these women leaders dominated South and South-east
Asia for much of the past four decades.
Each belonged to a special class of women whose husbands or fathers were
their country's recognised founding father or long-standing political leader.
But, while their dynastic links brought them to power, they were not the sole
factor keeping them there.
When first elected, none of these women had any serious professional or
political qualifications. For some, this 'shortcoming' was seen as an advantage,
enabling some of them to project an image of innocence and purity, even
martyrdom, as they stood in place of their deceased husbands or fathers.
None was particularly focused on a women's agenda (at least not in their
first terms in office), and studies show that rural women did not fare
particularly well under their rule.
But something very different emerged in Asia in 2011. We still have women
leaders who came to power at least partly because of their family ties. But they
now seem to use their positions with far more confidence in putting women and
their concerns squarely at the centre of their agendas.
And perhaps more importantly, a growing number of women are reaching for the
highest political echelons in their countries by dint of their political talents
alone.
Sonia Gandhi, the Italian- born wife of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi
and daughter- in-law of the late Indira Gandhi, became India's most powerful
woman for dynastic reasons but she has consistently demonstrated that she is a
shrewd behind- the-scenes political operator.
For her, the main task at hand is to strengthen the Congress Party, which in
early 2011 she was elected to lead for an unprecedented fourth term.
But she has also expended considerable energy on promoting women,
particularly their representation in politics. Indeed, she pushed hard in
backing Pratibha Patil to become India's first woman president.
Similarly Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh's prime minister, who carries the mantle
of her assassinated father, has become a keen advocate of development issues,
with a special emphasis on women and their needs. That agenda, missing in her
first term, has dominated her current period in office.
In East Asia, too, women are on the rise politically. Park Geun- hye,
daughter of Park Chung- hee, president of South Korea from 1961 to 1979, is now
one of the two likely candidates to succeed President Lee Myung-bak.
While Ms Park derives some of her power from her family pedigree, she has
proven to be an astute and seasoned politician - one who climbed the Grand
National Party's leadership ladder over the last two decades to emerge as a
national figure.
Her role in championing an inclusive agenda for women provides a new lens
through which to assess the power of Asia's new leaders.
Compare Ms Park to Corazon Aquino, who, when elected president of the
Philippines, famously remarked that she was simply a housewife, not a
professional politician or an experienced leader.
It was clear that voters elected her because she was the widow of the slain
opposition hero Benigno Aquino. By contrast, no one would deny Ms Park's
professional credentials. She is taken seriously more for her own experience and
political power than for her family connections.
Even in Japan, a similar change is in the air, but with no hint of dynastic
trappings. Yuriko Koike, a former defence minister and national security
adviser, is one of the country's most powerful figures; indeed, she could become
Japan's next prime minister. Unlike many other leaders of her Liberal Democratic
Party, Ms Koike has no real family connection to any major political figure.
Instead, her standing reflects her unique political talents: an academic
background in Arabic studies (she studied at Cairo University) and fluency in
English, which gives her a global perspective that most of her male colleagues
lack.
Ms Koike is not the only Asian woman without family ties forging a political
career that may lead to the top. Indonesia's Sri Mulyani Indrawati, a former
finance minister and currently a managing director of the World Bank, is often
mentioned as a leading presidential candidate in her country. Indeed, a party
has been formed specifically to entice her to run for president in 2014.
In Taiwan, Tsai Ing-wen, is making a sustained and powerful challenge to the
incumbent president in the election due in January 2012.
Having helped to draft Taiwan's special state-to-state act that regulates
relations with China and then having headed the country's Ministry for Mainland
Affairs Council, she is well positioned to manage the thorniest issue any
Taiwanese leader will face: the relationship with China.
Another newcomer to political leadership is Yingluck Shinawatra, Thailand's
prime minister. Clearly, one reason she swept to power this year was her ties to
her brother, exiled former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who controls the
country's strongest political party.
But she made it clear during the campaign that she is her own person, a
seasoned business leader with appropriate professional degrees.
Then, of course, there is the Burmese Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu
Kyi. The daughter of the founder of independent Burma, Ms Suu Kyi is now engaged
in perhaps the most delicate task of her remarkable political career - trying to
engineer a true democratic transition from decades of military rule.
Unlike the first generation of Asian women leaders, who gained power
primarily because of their familial connections, the emerging crop are strong,
confident, and ready to take on the challenge of leading their nations on their
own terms. Their followers appear to see in them harbingers, unjaded by history,
of the change for which their societies are clamouring.
At a time when, despite economic growth in Asia, there is much social and
income inequality, as well as uncertainty about the durability of peace in the
region, the desire to find fresh solutions to problems has given a powerful
boost to women leaders. They are poised to take their seats at the top table -
and perhaps to change its shape.
