In my post In Uncharted Territory, I wrote about the challenges that Anandi expected to face upon her return to India.
Her husband’s growing resentment was one. Another was that upon her return to India, despite being a professional woman who earned a high salary, she would have to fulfill her role as a dutiful and submissive daughter-in-law. Finally, since she had lived among Christians, some people (including some in her own family) would distance themselves from her.
The irony is that these challenges would arise as a result of her success and all that she had lived through in pursuit of that success.
Here in the U.S., we are a few days away from a historic election. Even though more than one hundred years have passed since Anandi’s time, women leaders continue to face challenges. The below video shows women heads of state of countries as diverse as Norway, Chile, Croatia and the Marshall Islands. Only one of these path-breakers reports not being mistreated, and she is not the one one might expect.
Even so, here’s hoping for the first Madam President of these United States!