The feminine factor in 2011

by Kalakeerthi EDWIN ARIYADASA

“The moving finger writes, and having writ, moves on” - Omar Khayyam in Rubayyat.

Time and its sister History, are irrevocable. The world-renowned Persian Poet Omar Khayyam captured the relentless irreversibility of Time, in his perennially popular Poem Rubayyat (four-lined verses).

In hindsight, we can contemplate what Time in its unstoppable march scrawled on the sands of history in the year 2011.

When we look back upon the past year, some intriguing characteristics of that period of time, begin to emerge.

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf

Leymah Gbowee

Ta Wakkol Karman

Yingluck Shinawatra

Aung San Suu Kyi

To begin with, it is the year, that brought the human population to the seven billion level. Officially, the global population reached this crucial number exactly on October 31, 2011. As demographers aver, modern man Homo sapiens first appeared on Earth around 50,000 BC. From then on, todate, an estimated 108 billion people have lived on Earth. The implication of this finding is that about 6.5 percent of all humans ever born are alive today.

Population

About 50.4 percent of today’s world population are male. Although there was a statistical male preponderance in the world population last year, 2011 proved an era of outstanding females.

If you take a keen look at the prominent events of the year that has just gone by, you will invariably note a whole series of impressive female achievements, world-wide.

For the first time in the history of Nobel Prizes, last year, three females were simultaneously awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The three women who were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2011, are Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Leymah Gbowee and Ta Wakkol Karman.

According to the citation, these three women were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, “for their non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women’s rights to full participation in peace–building work.”

In Thailand a woman politician set up an impressive record. She is Yingluck Shinawatra who at the election held on the July 3, 2011, reached the historical status of being the first female Prime Minister of Thailand.The 44-year-old-business Executive Yingluck Shinawatra is the younger sister of Thaksin Shinawatra – the controversial ex-Prime Minister of Thailand.

Victory

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, the mother of a nine-year-old son, is proud to be known as a devoted and dedicated house-wife. Her party Phen Thai scored a victory countering the influence formidable Democrats, arrayed against her. Although, her family has been totally involved in politics, she did not have any personal political ambitions. Since she practically grew up on the campaign trail”, statesmanship virtually a built-in factor in her life.

After long years of struggles and turmoil, the first female Prime Minister, might prove the healing influence. This is the view of many observers.

The year 2011, brought startling news about an eminent woman politician of Asia, who after several decades of restricted freedom emerged into public domain. She is Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi of Myanmar.

In 1990, her party – National League for Democracy won the elections. But, the military regime of the day, placed her under house arrest.

After two decades, Aung San Suu Kyi, has been provided the lee-way to contest the by elections.

Incarceration

Those who lamented her prolonged incarceration, heaved a sigh of relief in 2011, as Aung San Suu Kyi, 66, plunged headlong into her election campaign.

The world media were aglow in 2011, by a fairy-tale wedding of a young bride, to Prince William Arthur Philip Louis, heir to the British throne.

The young bride did not come from Royal ranks adding an aura of legend to this Royal wedding. The bride Catherine Elizabeth Middleton, charmed the world by her appealing humane ways.

Their April 29, 2011, wedding, is perhaps the world’s widest viewed live event, to date.

It is said, that more than two billion people viewed this Royal spectacle on TV or online.

This is over and above the massive crowds, that gathered to see the event, in London.

While Kate transformed into the Duchess of Cambridge, she added a memorable personality to the female events of 2011.

Among 2011 events, focusing on outstanding females, the world experienced a tinge of sadness, at the passing of a female personality, who had been widely dubbed as the most beautiful woman of her day. And, this immortal star is Elizabeth Taylor who passed away at the ripe age of 79, still echoing the uninhibited tributes paid to her compelling beauty and charm.

Another outstanding female personality, who earned a globe-girdling admiration in the year 2011, is US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Objective historians, and scholars and students of International Diplomacy traced her progress, as she wrote a new chapter in the practice of high-level diplomacy.

Synthesis

She brought about a synthesis between traditional diplomatic used with sophisticated media technologies, to establish an innovated image of US relations with the world.

A climatic stage in the Hillary Clinton progress was the first-ever visit of a US Secretary of State to Myanmar in more than half a century. It is the event, that opened the eyes of many observers about the changing road-map of US diplomacy. Queen Elizabeth entered history in 2011, with the forthcoming celebration of her Diamond Jubilee, to mark her 60th year on the British throne.

Viewed this way, 2011, has been an era of a series of impressive events focusing on world’s outstanding women.