le monde étaient des femmes. Il faudrait, selon les spécialistes, que ce chiffre atteigne 30% pour qu’elles exercent une influence réelle sur la gestion des affaires parlementaires. Et les pays les mieux dotés ne sont pas ceux qu’on attend. C’est en effet le Rwanda qui, selon cette enquête, arrive en tête au plan mondial avec 49% des sièges de sa Chambre Basse dévolus à des femmes. Les pays occidentaux, berceaux de la démocratie, ne comptent pas parmi les plus progressistes. En France, nous n’avons eu qu’une femme Premier Ministre, Edith Cresson, et jamais de femme présidente. Quant aux États-Unis, ils ne se sont pas encore résolus à être dirigés par des femmes. Même si Hillary Clinton et, avant elle, Condoleezza Rice, ont occupé le poste clé de Secrétaire d’Etat, elles n’ont pas pu accéder jusqu’à présent à la Maison Blanche autrement que comme First Ladies, femmes de Président. Selon les enquêteurs de l’UPI, les femmes sont freinées dans leur ascension par « leurs responsabilités domestiques ». Toujours selon l’UPI, les femmes au pouvoir témoignent d’une fibre sociale plus rare chez les hommes. Réduction de la pauvreté et protection des plus démunis leur tiennent particulièrement à cœur. Longtemps victimes du pouvoir machiste, elles se sentent naturellement en phase avec ceux -/MORE AND MORE WOMEN NOW WIELD POLITICAL OR ECONOMIC POWER. SIGN OF THE TIMES: NOT CONTENT WITH HAVING INFLUENCE, THEY'RE INCREASINGLY CHIC AND STUNNING. -/Question: can a woman have power, occupy positions traditionally reserved for men, without starting to resemble them ? For a long time that seemeddebatable. Certain radical feminists of the 1960s-70s deliberately went for the virile look: short hair, masculine gait, no make-up, natural skin and complexion, proudly donning men's suits to say nothing of uniforms, dungarees and overalls. my bossis a woman Obviously excessive, but then excessis often inevitable in the early days of any protest movement. Thirty years later the feminists, hardline or not, radical or reformist, reasonable or fanatical, have notchedup points in every field. Thus there are more and more women at the head of big corporations. From Anne Lauvergeon, Areva's very classy CEO, through Indra K Nooyi, PepsiCo's CEO since 2006, to Zoe Cruz, who also in 2006 became the Morgan Stanley bank's n°2, women are now working in the « highest spheres of economic power. And they're successful: Indra K Nooyi, for example, has given PepsiCo a huge boost by Certaines arrivent même achieving a 21% increase in net à accéder à des responsabilités suprêmes, gressis conclusive since we're return ! In politics too their pro- comme Angela Merkel seeing more and more women in en Allemagne, Michelle parliaments and governmental and public institutions, with some Bachelet au Chili, even attaining the highest positions of national responsibility: Pratibha Patil en Inde ou Tarja Halonen en Angela Merkel in Germany, Finlande. » Michelle Bachelet in Chile, Pratibha Patil in India, Tarja Halonen in Finland. And this is happening all over the world, no continent is being spared by the feminine push. Nevertheless, there's stilla long way to go to complete equality as a recent survey by the Geneva-based Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) demonstrated: in 2008 just over 18% of law-makers worldwide were women. The specialists say that figure needs to reach 30% before women will exercise real influence over the way governmental affairs are managed. And the countries with the most female politicians are not the ones you might expect: according to the survey, Rwanda has the most with 49% of the seats in its lower house being held by women. Countries in the West, the cradle of democracy, are not the most progressive. In France we've had only one woman prime minister, Edith Cresson, and no female president. Neither does the United States appear ready yet to be run by women. Even though Hillary Clinton and before her Condoleezza Rice have held the key post of secretary of state, women so far haven't made it to the White House except as first ladies. According to IPU, women are held back in their careers by "their domestic responsibilities". février - mars 2010 www.cotemagazine.com AMAZONS AMAZONES 67