For Women’s History Month, it is important to highlight the contributions of women across society. It is also important to remember women throughout history and understand that while many history texts would have us remember them simply as wives and mothers, women of the past were rulers, warriors and cultural leaders who shaped the world in indelible ways. Many of us are familiar with the likes of Elizabeth I and Catherine the Great, but here some other women the world should get to know a bit better.
We are giving these examples because they are unique, unheard of and can be used in your answers well.
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Empress Theodora: saviour of the crown
A Greek Cypriot woman born in 497 to a bear-keeper and an actress, Empress Theodora worked on stage herself and also likely as a prostitute (a common side business for actresses at the time) before becoming the empress of the Byzantine Empire. She went on to become the wife of Justinian I and was considered by many at the time, and by historians now, to be a co-ruler of the empire.
In fact, many credit her with saving Justinian’s rule during a revolt where his advisers urged him to flee his capital. Theodora demanded he stay and save his crown, after which he dispatched the rebels and solidified control with Theodora by his side. As empress, she had a particular focus on improving the situation of women in the empire, reforming divorce laws in women’s favour, increasing the penalties for rape, punishing the trafficking of young girls and supporting the rights of sex workers.
Queen Liliʻuokalani: advocate for Hawaiian sovereignty
As the last queen of the Kingdom of Hawaii (and its only reigning queen), Queen Liliʻuokalani fought hard to maintain independence for her country in the face of American imperialism. An educated woman, she traveled the world to promote Hawaii’s interests, even meeting the UK’s Queen Victoria at her Golden Jubilee.
She was an avid promoter of Hawaiian culture, writing the Aloha Oe, a song now synonymous with the tropical island chain. After an 1893 coup by American agitators and Hawaii’s annexation by the US, Liliʻuokalani remained an advocate for Hawaiian sovereignty until her death. Her home in downtown Honolulu, Iolani Palace, is the only royal palace in the US.
Empress Wu Zetian: a singular Chinese monarch
The only woman to rule China in her own right starting in 690, Empress Wu Zetian was a highly effective leader during the Tang dynasty, China’s golden age. Her reforms inspired the structure of Chinese governments for generations after, and she built a strong imperial state. She shifted the emphasis for recruiting senior government officials away from personal ties to focus on education levels and intellect.
She also expanded the size of the empire and exercised great influence over neighbouring empires in Korea and Japan. Her economic policies brought great wealth to the country, and she was a patron of the arts and education. She also elevated the position of women in society and encouraged the study of the lives of prominent women to emphasise their importance to Tang society. She died an immensely popular ruler with a rich legacy.
Yaa Asantewaa: protector of Ghanian culture
Queen Mother Yaa Asantewaa of Ejisu in the Asante Empire, now modern-day Ghana, was a formidable woman who protected the most important elements of her culture from colonial invaders. When the British captured a group of Asante rulers in an attempt to fully subjugate them under imperial rule, they also demanded the Asante present them with the Golden Stool, a symbol of Asante royalty and the nation’s most sacred object. Many of the male chiefs were prepared to accede to British demands, but Yaa Asantewaa refused, allegedly saying: “If you, the men of Asante, will not go forward, then we will. I shall call upon my fellow women.”
Yaa Asantewaa rallied her people and commanded the Asante’s troops during the final war of independence against the British in 1900 to prevent the domination of the Asante people and preserve the sanctity of the Golden Stool. In the end, the British were victorious, and even though she died in 1921, she was an influential figure in the nationalist movement of Ghana when it gained independence in 1957.
The Trung sisters: national heroines of Vietnam
The Trung Sisters, Trung Trac and Trung Nhi, are national heroines in Vietnam for rebelling against domination by the Chinese empire. Born around 1 AD, the Trung sisters were raised at a time of relative freedom for women in Vietnam where they could serve as judges and soldiers, and had equal rights over property and inherited land. During a time when the Chinese exercised relatively loose, but tightening, control over Vietnam, Trung Trac’s husband was executed for disagreeing with the Chinese governor.
In the aftermath, the sisters raised an army of 80,000 people to eject imperial China. Commanding from elephant-back, their army, which included many women as well as their mother, drove the Chinese from northern Vietnam. The sisters ruled the country for three years until the Chinese invaded and retook Vietnam. Legend has it that rather than surrendering to the Chinese, the sisters committed suicide by jumping into a river.
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Steve Ovett, the famous British middle-distance athlete, won the 800-metres gold medal at the Moscow Olympics of 1980. Just a few days later, he was about to win a 5,000-metres race at London’s Crystal Palace. Known for his burst of acceleration on the home stretch, he had supreme confidence in his ability to out-sprint rivals. With the final 100 metres remaining,
[wptelegram-join-channel link=”https://t.me/s/upsctree” text=”Join @upsctree on Telegram”]Ovett waved to the crowd and raised a hand in triumph. But he had celebrated a bit too early. At the finishing line, Ireland’s John Treacy edged past Ovett. For those few moments, Ovett had lost his sense of reality and ignored the possibility of a negative event.
This analogy works well for the India story and our policy failures , including during the ongoing covid pandemic. While we have never been as well prepared or had significant successes in terms of growth stability as Ovett did in his illustrious running career, we tend to celebrate too early. Indeed, we have done so many times before.
It is as if we’re convinced that India is destined for greater heights, come what may, and so we never run through the finish line. Do we and our policymakers suffer from a collective optimism bias, which, as the Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman once wrote, “may well be the most significant of the cognitive biases”? The optimism bias arises from mistaken beliefs which form expectations that are better than the reality. It makes us underestimate chances of a negative outcome and ignore warnings repeatedly.
The Indian economy had a dream run for five years from 2003-04 to 2007-08, with an average annual growth rate of around 9%. Many believed that India was on its way to clocking consistent double-digit growth and comparisons with China were rife. It was conveniently overlooked that this output expansion had come mainly came from a few sectors: automobiles, telecom and business services.
Indians were made to believe that we could sprint without high-quality education, healthcare, infrastructure or banking sectors, which form the backbone of any stable economy. The plan was to build them as we went along, but then in the euphoria of short-term success, it got lost.
India’s exports of goods grew from $20 billion in 1990-91 to over $310 billion in 2019-20. Looking at these absolute figures it would seem as if India has arrived on the world stage. However, India’s share of global trade has moved up only marginally. Even now, the country accounts for less than 2% of the world’s goods exports.
More importantly, hidden behind this performance was the role played by one sector that should have never made it to India’s list of exports—refined petroleum. The share of refined petroleum exports in India’s goods exports increased from 1.4% in 1996-97 to over 18% in 2011-12.
An import-intensive sector with low labour intensity, exports of refined petroleum zoomed because of the then policy regime of a retail price ceiling on petroleum products in the domestic market. While we have done well in the export of services, our share is still less than 4% of world exports.
India seemed to emerge from the 2008 global financial crisis relatively unscathed. But, a temporary demand push had played a role in the revival—the incomes of many households, both rural and urban, had shot up. Fiscal stimulus to the rural economy and implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission scales had led to the salaries of around 20% of organized-sector employees jumping up. We celebrated, but once again, neither did we resolve the crisis brewing elsewhere in India’s banking sector, nor did we improve our capacity for healthcare or quality education.
Employment saw little economy-wide growth in our boom years. Manufacturing jobs, if anything, shrank. But we continued to celebrate. Youth flocked to low-productivity service-sector jobs, such as those in hotels and restaurants, security and other services. The dependence on such jobs on one hand and high-skilled services on the other was bound to make Indian society more unequal.
And then, there is agriculture, an elephant in the room. If and when farm-sector reforms get implemented, celebrations would once again be premature. The vast majority of India’s farmers have small plots of land, and though these farms are at least as productive as larger ones, net absolute incomes from small plots can only be meagre.
A further rise in farm productivity and consequent increase in supply, if not matched by a demand rise, especially with access to export markets, would result in downward pressure on market prices for farm produce and a further decline in the net incomes of small farmers.
We should learn from what John Treacy did right. He didn’t give up, and pushed for the finish line like it was his only chance at winning. Treacy had years of long-distance practice. The same goes for our economy. A long grind is required to build up its base before we can win and celebrate. And Ovett did not blame anyone for his loss. We play the blame game. Everyone else, right from China and the US to ‘greedy corporates’, seems to be responsible for our failures.
We have lowered absolute poverty levels and had technology-based successes like Aadhaar and digital access to public services. But there are no short cuts to good quality and adequate healthcare and education services. We must remain optimistic but stay firmly away from the optimism bias.
In the end, it is not about how we start, but how we finish. The disastrous second wave of covid and our inability to manage it is a ghastly reminder of this fact.