An old thought on Ségo

"Sarko" has won. What will this mean for la France?

In thinking of it, I'm reminded of a the early drafts of a paper I wrote early last fall about feminism, politics, and Ségolène. But it's really about Mouny...

I met my great-grandmother only a few times. Her son, my grandfather, decided to make a life for himself in America after she fled with him and his siblings to the United States during World War II. But she returned home. We used to visit her in her ivy-covered cottage in Provence, stay for dinner and an overnight, then return to la vie de St. Tropez for a truly Americanized vacation. We were there for fun, and fun alone. But as briefly as I knew my great-grandmother before her death, “Mouny” (as we called her) had a profound influence on my life.

Sitting in her high-backed antique chair in Les Gros, she let golden rays of sun pour through the window and over her olive skin, illuminating the colorful fabrics of the south of France. Her beauty, her presence, her charisma inspired me to study French. I’ve heard, since her death, glorious rumors from her life — of tiny princes, scandalous romances, marching elephants and the Eiffel Tour. These stories are based on facts; she was once close friends with Antoine de Saint Exupéry (author of Le Petit Prince), entangled in the web of lovers weaved by Jean-Paul Sartre, and an influential leader of the era’s largest newspaper, France Soir, during a time when women were not meant to have influence. In the stories of her feminine seduction, girlish intrigue and womanly strength, I first found my interest in women’s empowerment.

Today, over ten years after my great-grandmother’s death, some would say France is on the verge of completing the “second wave of feminism” by electing a woman to the most powerful leadership role in the country — President. Ségolène Royal is a test of progress, proving whether or not another world power is prepared to follow a female leader.

According to her Wikipedia article, at an informal summer session, 57% of the French Socialist Party preferred her to be their presidential candidate, and — as she says — “only widespread male chauvinism in the party has prevented this.” Will male chauvinism prevail? Will she crumble on her own means? Or will she rise above and earn her party’s nomination for President? If so, will she be elected? The implications of these questions have a profound impact on French society, but also on the future of aspiring woman leaders in democracies around the world.

Royal — a smart, outspoken, charismatic and brave politician — is poised to fight for the office. England and Germany have already followed a woman into power. What structures, networks, and cultural differences exist in Western Europe and France that promote women leadership, and why is it that women in Europe seem to have enough political respect to earn the highest position of power? If Ségolène Royal is not nominated or elected, what does her run mean for women in French politics? What does it mean for women seeking power in the United States and elsewhere?

If she is elected, how will a woman’s leadership change the very soul of a nation? Will a woman bring more peace? Or will she, with her proclamation for “military dimension” and need to compensate for being a woman, rule with an iron fist? If she isn’t elected, what will the aftermath of her fall bring, and how will France react to a presidential run from a woman?

Ultimately, I hope this experience will further advance the agendas of independent, intellectual and inspiring women — like my “Mouny” — in France and across the globe.