Is Nancy Pelosi the Most Powerful Woman in American History?
That’s the question of the day and I hope you’ll share your answer to it.
Diane Sawyer asked Pelosi herself whether she agrees with that perception in her March 22 interview, the day after the health reform bill passed the House of Representatives. Pelosi seemed a little taken aback, as she often does, and demurely replied that she takes the idea as a compliment to all women.
Linda Lowen writing on About.com suggests that Pelosi pumped up her political muscle significantly from this victory, while at the same time acknowledging the irony that the staunchly pro-choice legislator caved to anti-choice Democrats to extract the votes she needed. And on Morning Joe today the debate was whether Pelosi, Sandra O’Connor, Hillary Clinton, or Eleanor Roosevelt deserved that crown (Though Joe was quick to point out that her approval rating hovers at 11%). Or would you consider a media icon like Oprah Winfrey more powerful?
It seems to me that when anyone wins a big battle, the degree of power attributed to her or him goes way up. Pelosi deserves to take a victory lap, though in my opinion she’s running hobbled by her own inability to overcome the Stupak anti-choice faction of her party as well as Obama’s unwillingness to stand by his original public option proposal.
What are your thoughts? Who do you think is the most powerful woman in American history?
INTENTIONING
Sex, Power, Pandemics, and How Women
Will Take The Lead for (Everyone’s) Good
The new book from Gloria Feldt about the future, taking the leadership lessons learned from this disruption and creating a better world for all through the power of intention.
GLORIA FELDT is the New York Times bestselling author of several books including No Excuses: 9 Ways Women Can Change How We Think About Power, a sought-after speaker and frequent contributor to major news outlets, and the Co-Founder and President of Take The Lead. People has called her “the voice of experience,” and among the many honors she has been given, Vanity Fair called her one of America’s “Top 200 Women Legends, Leaders, and Trailblazers,” and Glamour chose her as a “Woman of the Year.”
As co-founder and president of Take The Lead, a leading women’s leadership nonprofit, her mission is to achieve gender parity by 2025 through innovative training programs, workshops, a groundbreaking 50 Women Can Change The World immersive, online courses, a free weekly newsletter, and events including a monthly Virtual Happy Hour program and a Take The Lead Day symposium that reached over 400,000 women globally in 2017.
6 Comments
Leave a Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.
From FemiSex on twitter in response to this post–
@Heartfeldt Nancy Pelosi is every woman’s nightmare! She has just marginalized abortion as NOT health care and extended Hyde to all women.
Do you agree?
Ed Jordan from Facebook
It is her or Sec. Clinton
Janet Marcotte from Facebook
Absolutely!
If one defines power as the ability to influence the course of events, perhaps Nancy Pelosi is the most powerful woman in US history. Unfortunately most women in positions of power got there because they are skillful at playing man’s games. Men in positions of power promote such women to reinforce the status quo. So I would have to ask, are women in positions of what men regard as power actually changing the course of events, or merely helping men perpetuate this colossal mess posing as a civilized society?
The way I define power has more to do with a powerfully independent mind. Women with that kind of power pose a real threat to the status quo, so their ability to influence the course of events is much more subtle, under the radar, so to speak, since the men in power do their best to marginalize and ridicule such women. Eventually that will become impossible, but who knows how long that will take.
Jeff Cook from Facebook
I’m going to have to vote for Secretary of State Clinton, based on the closeness of her relationship with Obama, and my unfettered bias about what an amazing woman Clinton is. *laughs* Taking nothing away from Pelosi, whom I also respect
It occurs to me as I have read the comments here and on Facebook, that I would like to have a much longer list of women to choose from when I am thinking about who the most powerful women are.
Fascinating question! It so depends on how you define power, doesn’t it? And it is hard to isolate personality [as in who you like or don’t like] from the deliberation.
I think some of the components of the definition would include scope of influence and gravity of the areas of influence. For me that would rule out someone like Oprah. Of the women mentioned so far, I would choose Hillary Clinton given her ability to have global impact, influence and reach.
But I like the idea of expanding the list…what about Rosa Parks and Elizabeth Cady Stanton?