Forums > Social Discussion > Germany's first female chancellor

So, in Germany, the post of "Kanzler" (chancellor) is pretty much like prime minister in the UK - you have the say in most things even though there's someone else who has to sign all the laws for you (president/queen).

Today Angela Merkel has been elected Kanzlerin, and she's the first woman to get to this post. There were tries before to get a woman to be president, but those seemed more like alibi things because the parties didn't have anyone else to put forward so they thought they could make themselves look more liberal and modern by promoting women.

With Merkel, even though there might have been other candidates, she's been elected despite the fact that she is a. East German, b. a woman and c. has bad hair and no dressing sense. No idea why c. is so important (look at all the male politicians who aren't exactly models!!), but it's been the most popular thing to criticise about her.

I don't support the conservative party, and I don't think they actually have any better ideas than the social democrats (so they deserve ruling in a coalition as they do now, really). I'm also not sure if she's the type of person Germany needs to push the reforms we have to start now if we want to avoid big problems in a decade or two (though, to be fair, I don't know who of the candidates would be). Even so, I'm positively surprised that my country has voted for the "East German woman" - it'll definitely open up possibilities in the future. Hopefully votes won't be that much determined by man/woman, or East/West anymore.

(Though I think it'll still be a while until all of Germany will vote for a Bavarian chancellor...)

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