Several countries today are stuck with old leaders. Turkey for instance have not been able to produce new leaders in any political front. Why is there a shortage of leadership and why the overall age for leaders are going up and up? And is there a pill for new leadership? As a social researcher who has been around for a while, I try to answer why? Interested? Then keep reading…
All societal deficiencies tend to start in the family. As any other, this current lack of leadership has its root in the family structure. In many countries, women are still confined to the ‘house’ as the society is simply not friendly enough for women to self-actualize. Rejected by the matriarchal society, women more often than not use all their energy to establish an absolute authority in the house; she can be a ‘no body’ in the ranks of the society but she is the ‘ queen ‘ within the limits of her house. So she starts controlling every aspect of the domestic life; cleaning, cooking, household budget, children’s education, social relations, family dynamics, everything becomes a domain of control. In some households, this control is handed to women easily in others it has to be fought for… Some women exercise their ‘feminine’ power openly directly while some do so indirectly through manipulation. But however the control is exercised or the extent of it, this become for women one path of self- realization, a quest for happiness in her repressed society…
Unfortunately, this is not a happy journey for women or for others who live under the same roof. The infantilized husband who does not have any area of control in his house, the children who do not have a say on any matter, experience difficulties in the outside world. They struggle to make decisions or take any action… They become obedient voters who do not question but follow orders. They are stripped of any leadership quality they may have been born with. While the husband and the son gets psychologically castrated, the daughter learns that her chances of control are higher in the house than in the society. Naturally no leaders are made in this family structure; this type of dynamic only produces followers with a penchant for learnt helplessness and a tendency for victimization… Therehow the average age of leaders increases with every election…
For new generation of leaders, it is necessary that women have positive discrimination in all aspects of social life and find more space to self- actualize other than the domestic life. Failing that, we will be seeing the old faces in many new elections all around the world, especially in those countries where women are repressed.
Where do you think we can start? Please share your comments too.