{"id":10343,"date":"2011-12-30T10:37:29","date_gmt":"2011-12-30T15:37:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/?p=10343"},"modified":"2012-12-26T20:07:54","modified_gmt":"2012-12-27T01:07:54","slug":"the-strongest-women-of-2011","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/cultural-correspondent\/12\/30\/the-strongest-women-of-2011\/","title":{"rendered":"The Strongest Women Of 2011"},"content":{"rendered":"

2011 has proven to be quite the dichotomous year for women. For every union-saving frau like Angela Merkel there has been a Kardashian who impetuously destroys unions of the more \u201csacred\u201d ilk. For every title of \u201cfirst\u201d that IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde tacks on to her glistening resume, there is an overbearing and neurotic mom exploiting her 4-year-old daughter to win both the title of Miss Grand Supreme and a supremely tacky tiara. From Lady Gaga to Hillary Clinton to Michele Bachmann, women have ruled the scene this year and have thus highlighted the female psyche at its best and worst. It is without further ado, then, that we bring you the strongest women of 2011.<\/p>\n

Angela Merkel: The Iron Frau<\/h2>\n

\"PBH<\/p>\n

Hailing from the formerly Communist East Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel knows a thing or two about the importance of unity. So revered by the international community, Merkel has consistently topped the list of Forbes \u201cMost Powerful Woman\u201d from 2006 to 2011 (save for 2010) and has been eternalized in plastic via her 11.5-inch tall Barbie form<\/a><\/em>. <\/p>\n

Prior to becoming the Chancellor of Germany and earning the title of the longest serving leader of a G8 country, Ms. Merkel paved her way through school as a discotheque barmaid and ultimately worked toward her doctorate in quantum chemistry while living in a veritable hovel that lacked both hot water and a toilet. <\/p>\n

Picking up fluency in Russian along the way, Merkel now works with people more obstinate than belligerent bar patrons in order to accomplish something even more arduous than the pursuit of a doctorate in science: saving the euro zone from economic collapse. Nevertheless, her cast iron resolve springs eternal and it has not gone unnoticed: a Forbes poll reports that the French have more faith in Merkel (46%) to save them from the mires of economic malaise than they do in their cher<\/em> Sarkozy (33%). <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Asmaa Mahfouz: The Little Lady Who Started The Big Revolution<\/h2>\n

\"PBH<\/p>\n

If you asked Asmaa Mahfouz on January 24th if she thought her YouTube video would result in the massive protests that currently serve as the burning image of the Arab Spring, she would have responded with a resounding \u201cno.\u201d Horrified by the fatal beating of Alexandria\u2019s Khaled Said and inspired by the seeds of revolution planted by Tunisian fruit vendor Mohamed Bouazizi\u2019s heroic act of self-immolation, the slight 26-year-old decided to combat the oppressive Mubarak regime herself. <\/p>\n

Her weapon? Not her body or a bomb: the Internet. Taking to YouTube and Facebook in January 2011, Mahfouz called on her compatriots to join her in Tahrir Square to protest the human rights violations inflicted by Hosni Mubarak and his crooked cronies. And on January 25, they did: 50,000 marched en masse to Cairo\u2019s center to demand their human rights. <\/p>\n

Like most things viral, her voice spread and mobilized many of those formerly paralyzed in fear into action from Suez to Alexandria to Zuccotti Park. Demonstrating her support for the Occupy Wall Street movement this past October, Mahfouz stated in an interview with Democracy Now<\/a><\/em> that \u201canother world is possible for us\u201d and it is therefore necessary to express solidarity with other international harbingers of change. Her first thoughts on Occupy Wall Street? \u201cIt\u2019s a small Tahrir Square.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adela Navarro Bello: The Periodista<\/em> Waging War Against Mexican Narcotrafficking<\/h2>\n

\"PBH<\/p>\n

She cannot walk to her car without the company of seven armed bodyguards. And as her coworkers have been gunned down and beaten to a bloody pulp, she remains one of the last individuals standing. No, Adela Navarro Bello is not in some kind of highfalutin governmental organization or a damsel needing saving in some Bruce Willis action flick; she is a writer.<\/p>\n

In an epoch of self-censorship and ubiquitous fear on behalf of Mexican media, Bello presides as general director of Tijuana\u2019s Zeta, one of the only remaining publications that conduct investigative reports on crooked politicians, drug cartels, and corrupt police forces. <\/p>\n

Despite the inordinate amount of death threats she has received, Bello perseveres. Self-described as having been \u201cpoisoned with the truth,\u201d Bello offers rather apt words in an era of economic, social, and political upheaval: \u201cwe aren\u2019t heroes. There is a need out there to know more, to follow the actions of the government carefully, and to keep an eye on political parties and social groups.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Christine Lagarde: The French Financier Who Seeks To Prevent International Finance\u2019s Flatlining<\/h2>\n

\"PBH<\/p>\n

The 6-foot-tall Christine Lagarde is a former synchronized swimming champion. And in her office, she has a framed caricature of herself as a fishnet stocking-clad dominatrix whipping a banker. Adding a bit of a heavier weight to her bag of eccentricities, Lagarde is also the managing director of the International Monetary Fund.<\/p>\n

As the world hangs at the precipice of financial disaster, it is Christine Lagarde, a staunch advocate of both regulation and free markets, upon whom many rely to prevent it. And if that is even a possibility at this point, it is she who has the proverbial chops to do so. In addition to her empirical expertise, Lagarde has many \u201cfirsts\u201d fastened tightly to her belt: Lagarde is the first woman to hold the position of minister of economic affairs, the first woman to head the IMF, and has been ranked by The Financial Times first as the best minister of finance of the Eurozone. <\/p>\n

When asked in a 60 Minutes interview how she felt about those achievements, Lagarde remained markedly humble and eloquent. To her, it doesn\u2019t matter so much that she is the first: \u201cWhat matters,\u201d she said, \u201cis that I\u2019m not the last.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hillary Clinton: The Heaven Sent Secretary of State<\/h2>\n

\"PBH<\/p>\n

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton remains America\u2019s most admired woman for the past ten years despite the fact that the majority of her time is spent elsewhere: the sky. Racking in over 500,000 miles in her Boeing jet and visiting 80 countries in the three years she has been Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton is the political paradigm of independence and persistence. <\/p>\n

Described by many as the only one trusted on all sides of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, it is Hillary Clinton upon whom many rely<\/a><\/em> to assuage the volatile temperament of Bibi Netanyahu and it is also Hillary Clinton upon whom the United States relies to demonstrate to other international dignitaries that not all of us think Palestinians are an \u201cinvented people\u201d or, a la Herman Cain, that national leaders \u201caren\u2019t supposed to know anything about foreign policy.\u201d Thank God Hillary didn\u2019t win the presidency. The thought of anyone else representing the United States abroad is nightmarish.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

2011 has proven to be quite the dichotomous year for women. For every union-saving frau like Angela Merkel there has been a Kardashian who impetuously destroys unions of the more \u201csacred\u201d ilk. For every title of \u201cfirst\u201d that IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde tacks on to her glistening resume, there is an overbearing and neurotic […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":549,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[259],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Strongest Women Of 2011<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Five women who changed the world in 2011.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/cultural-correspondent\/12\/30\/the-strongest-women-of-2011\/\" \/>\n<link rel=\"next\" href=\"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/cultural-correspondent\/12\/30\/the-strongest-women-of-2011\/2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta 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