Response to Prompt #3

I believe that many people believe that women do not make good leaders. They think that women are not strong enough in mind, body, and spirit to lead a people. I think this an unfair judgment. Women can be just as good as leaders as men can, maybe even better. I concede that weak-willed women are not fit to lead, but neither are weak willed men. Both Lady Macbeth and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher show amazing perseverance and bravery. These qualities may be called manly, but I think they are just the signs of a strong person, and a person does not have to be male to be strong. If a leader is weak-willed then it does not matter if they are man or woman, they are just a bad leader. I would rather our country be led by a strong woman than a weak man. Some may argue that all women are weak and to be at all strong they have to act like men. To this I say, no, to be strong one has to act like a brave person, not like someone you are not. No matter how much a woman wishes to be like a man, such as Lady Macbeth asking the spirits to ‘unsex’ her, they will still be a woman. And yet, it is not Macbeth, the big, manly war hero, who concocts a plan to murder Duncan and become king, it is Lady Macbeth, with her cunning, not her brawn. She even says that she would have killed Duncan has he not looked so much like her father. This is not a show of womanly weakness, for what man would readily kill his father? A true leader is wise, brave, and true and these qualities do not only describe men, they can describe women, too. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher never gave up even when everyone was putting her down. Her own husband didn’t even agree with her decision, he told her to give up. But Thatcher never gave in, and she did it, not for herself, but for her beloved country. That is what makes a strong leader. I have personally met more women school principles than males and at McNick I like the woman principle better than I liked the male principle and I think she runs the school better. Just because someone is male or female, doesn’t mean than one is better than the other. What really counts is how they lead.