bluffing. checking how long will they be able to play and who will with their school we believe that renewable energy will play an important role in the future. in a geo political system starting launching on t.w. . a lot of very warm welcome indeed to quadriga coming to you from the heart of bird lane and this week to mark international women's day the focus is on women in power take angle americal germany's chancellor for over thirteen years and for many the most powerful woman in the world women are also on the advance in many other countries in the u.s. they're calling for a different kind of politics on the street sounded congress women are also for instance making their presence felt in the two newseum parliament and young

activists like sweden's greater toolbag and pakistan's malawi yousafzai are having a real impact so our question on quadriga this week is women in power the better politicians and to discuss that question i'm joined here in the studio by soraya sarhaddi nelson an american journalist who directs the u.s. national public radio bureau here in berlin she believes that women are politically more powerful than ever before but still great obstacles also with us is an acoa both foreign correspondent for spiegel magazine she argues that women are gaining influence globally as entrepreneurs politicians and activists but when people are seeking refuge in war zones women are always among the first victims and a warm welcome to the current who is among other things an advisor on human rights for a german member of. moments karen sais that one hundred years after the introduction

of women's suffrage in germany the proportion of women in politics is still below fifty percent we need a quota she says so that we do not have to wait another hundred years for our current you are not doing and i would like to stay with you international women's day why is it important why is it still important. it's in part of in so many ways . you already mentioned my statement we need parity in every pot amend i would say in the world not only in germany that's one thing but we also need to focus on the struggles women face every day we have women out off being out off social security being out of financial security we have sexualized violence domestic domestic violence these topics which touch women specifically and we don't talk about them enough despite all that soraya you say that women are more

powerful than they have ever been before how does that manifest itself well in the united states so we've just had a historic congressional election in which almost twenty four percent of the house of representatives is now basically made up of women you have twenty five women senators and even so it really shines a light on how far behind the united states is in many ways because it's not even the average if you look at the into parliament tree rank rankings of women make up but having said that there's a lot of discussion about women who are going to be running in the twenty twenty alexion i mean there's a lot more focus on women in power the obstacles again are very great though when you look at the averages and where women actually do stand in the power structure and susan of the i saw one headline of her blog which had a headline which i think is symptomatic of what you're saying here that it's we've come a long way but there's still an awful long way to go what's the good news and what's the bad for you as a as a roving correspondent i see that i mean there is definitely

a bond to for women in a globalized world because they can reach out to opportunities within which they didn't have before and also a lot of. governments which we quit consider as conservative or maybe even ultra conservative let's let's for instance referred to because of the arabiya they understand that the economy would work so much better if they involve more women and provide them with more chances so there is definitely a potential. and an acknowledgement of that of that flag and that's that's that's the good thing turn you're nodding. yeah i was nodding because i agree to the to the chances women have to globalization due to the digitalisation as well i believe that a lot of movements which have started from the ground a lot of grassroots movement use a detour off and. social media and digitalization as such in order to get their

voices heard because again if we look at the parliaments we see that women still a minority even though a lot of parliament a lot of parties and a lot of governments for now also have a woman standing at the front but if we look at the second the third and even the fostering where we still talk about that isn't the system making and of of policy making knocking a lot of women so i guess these new tools need to be used more in a more efficient and more powerful way for women to unite internationally and to move to to move the outrage which started from the street to move them towards the parliaments so that they can be heard and it's interesting to look to the. website from the international women's day and they say we're entering an exciting period of history where the world expects a balance and there's a lot of talk about gender balance how important is or is does that signify that we've moved into a new phase in the debate because the gender balance doesn't sound like seven ism.

yeah their word feminism i mean i would call myself a feminist i have no problem with saying about but i do understand that out of people maybe also the younger generation has a. and with that label if we talk about gender equality it's. basically what a feminist fight fall so far now seeing that the debate has evolved yeah i would totally agree but if we look at the facts if we look at the german bunds talk for example we have a only thirty percent off the taliban terry and women and we have even declined from the last legislature and so in this sense we are talking about it even more but the results haven't changed and i was the world bank report says there's only six countries worldwide sweden belgium france denmark latvia looks fully equal rights have angry does that make you feel. i'm a journalist i don't have feelings i mean it is surprising it was that report was

eye opening because it also talked about only ten countries actually having gender equality or equal rights on the books which i thought it would be more than that i was surprised to see germany was thirty one. and america sixty five i think which is even more shocking and i think disappointing as a woman but i think if you if you look at what's happening in i mean people are standing up and speaking about it more that's not that's the change that i've noticed i mean whether it's the need to have movement whether it's debates about who is at the top certainly are are very. colorful shall we say president that we have at the moment the united states that has really forced the debate certainly to american society you're hearing people are thinking a lot more about the gender equality and i agree that not attaching a feminist label to it i think has made it more palatable maybe for generations you know across the generations whether it's younger or older and it's not a problem that we're focusing too much on something binary men and women have not

been not focusing on class for example race i think there are there are a lot more factors in there on this is why i even like to say are women in power you know the premise here of what we're talking about are women and. is it better to have women in power or better to have man power i just think it sort of defines men and women as opposites which which were not i mean i guess that's the sort of feeds into what that has has gone on but having said that i mean obviously people are looking to see women leaders like america and others has that made germany a better place for example these countries that have them and that is how men and women are both looking i think at whether or not it's a good thing to push for this gender equality and power looking very thoughtful who's not and. i was i was thinking about what you just said about mrs merkel i mean there is this old phrase don't tell show and she is one of the perfect examples for that she tried to not for vogue anybody and at the same time she has

achieved a couple of things which the social democrats always called for and never really achieved so interesting only it's one of the factors for success is that she would not address things in a confrontational. debate in the society which is actually a very difficult thing to say because i mean certainly we we all appreciate the freedoms we have in a democracy and one of the core elements is that we discuss things as they are and rame them as they are and so. she her success was definitely to not raise these issues and i'm sure she is she has nothing against homosexuals but she never really made it a point or she has nothing against any kind of minorities or whatever. because she was stealing mainly with the angry white man she also had to please those and

you can see the row of angry white man who are not in power anymore who she worked with because she just silently found a way to push them aside yeah so. if you if you. whatever i mean you should write a book if you want to if you want to make this a point but don't tell openly in politics i think that that's the that's the thing you learned from that looking after that fascinates us and so the role of i'm going to matalin the law in years in office really really interesting let's talk specifically about women in power including our three women we have here of the who have all been faced with the challenge of making a fresh start after them male produces that quite simply mess things up. back when germany's capital was involved on uncle americal was called cool girl she served the powerful chancellor helmut kohl and says environment minister when kohl stepped down as c.d.u.

party chair following a scandal machall took the reins of power and in two thousand and five became german chancellor she's enjoyed international influence ever since. theresa may also stepped into the breach when a man failed british prime minister david cameron initiated and lost the back seat referendum and resigned maybe took over the office in two thousand and sixteen although many opposed by accident first she still had to manage her country's thanks it from the. after sexual assault allegations ousted then i.m.f. head of an extra con christine legarde stepped into the breach for the past eight years she has steered the i.m.f. with a competent steady hand she's maintained a clear position including donald trump can it be that women only get to positions of power after men have failed. some sort of would you like to pick up on that question. it's interesting because

there's no doubt that these women didn't necessarily come at a high time in their various countries situations and there's no doubt i mean it was interesting was a harvard business review study that showed that countries with leaders that were women that were diverse actually did better economically one could say germany was one of those i mean there has been great economic growth under the at the time of merkel if you want to say it's because she was a woman leader or because of what policies i mean that's obviously a matter of debate for for many people for her opponents and for her supporters but but yeah it does seem that you know that women have to take advantage of the opportunities as they get the opportunities to butt. some leaders are still very difficult this wealth and with a low god part of a generation of female leaders who who had to play the game according to men's rules and slowly bend and change those rules but they couldn't rewrite them in the way that young the younger generation of politicians might begin to do so now well

again i mean i've only in terms of my coverage of merkel i would say you know for six years for n.p.r. i was the bureau chief here and it was clear that she didn't define it that way she just used i mean she didn't say ok we're going to play by men's rules we're going to do we're going to redefine about women's rights she played by merkel's rules i mean that record that was that meant very thoughtful consideration and not just immediately jumping at something being very cool and calm because emotion leaders who are emotional or women leaders who express any kind of anger or rage or things that we might see in male leaders you get pinged a lot more for more for it when you're a woman leader so i can't i wouldn't i mean yes i guess that means maybe they were playing by the men's roles but i i don't see it quite as that i just see it as a sort of redefining it but not doing it in a very aggressive manner turning the question we're addressing today's do women do politics differently do women do politics better than men maybe it's

a cliche question i'm not sure but it's an important one i think for the transition phase that we're perhaps in exactly cos we're in that transition transition phase i would still say it's an important question even though it's case a pinpointing women against men and opening up to different groups and i wouldn't want to answer the question if women are the better petitions i don't expect women to be the better petitions what i expect is that women get fifty percent of the power that that's the deal the fifth trial maybe just so you know ironically or maybe because if men are bad politicians we never pinpoint the agenda being the reason why they are bad politicians why should we do it up with women so that's what i. what i want to say i was going to do expect different politics from women do you have higher standards different standards or different different standards i think they have different topics in mind i mean they know for instance the difficulty to. to have a family and have

a career at the same time and at the same time if they if they focus on that they won't be very successful because again it's something which is such a major point that changes society if you want to equalize that. that you would not be successful by provoking half of the heart of your country or maybe thirty percent of the country so i think it's a very delicate and i think it's a good good thing that you mentioned we are in a trance with a transition phase in this transition phase women cannot really show perfectly what they really have in mind what they really would like to do to create in a society differently than a man but they have to fulfill the expectations of all these white man and do it quite similar as their free just answers and at the same time they need to add something and push it into erection attract women as well so it's really

a difficult task if you talk about the leaders we see in europe for instance but i think we're definitely moving into another into another sphere because also these hierarchies does do not exist. as they existed like thirty years before and i think we are also moving into a direction that hierarchies do not do that are not sustainable as much as we have seen them in the last fifty years if i might add i wouldn't completely agree because in the past we've seen women vote whether stable vote they voted for the left parties in the last elections in germany but also in the u.s. we've seen women not satisfied with what their regular parties offer them anymore they want. they are subject to topics in the center of the parties so i believe the parties have to really open and openly say what they are actually offering women and you mentioned social security you mentioned security for families these

subjects which have been hidden in the past by the regular parties regular parties i'd say so and you have other parties for example in germany now. twit turning to watts women and saying we are your party also funding a new kind of feminism so i guess the danger here is that the old parties lose the women by kind of hiding that genda and not really turning to watch the women so i'd really like to make that difference you know sort of i just wonder if you have any sense of this are something like a global battle between men and women because we're seeing more and more sort of strong men as it were in verse comes leaders we're seeing the the kind of politics the populist politics the you were just talking about this seems to be some of a real action by men trying to sort of keep control over women the sort of alaska kind of attack well i don't i'm not even sure i would even call it a last gasp it could take much longer than that i certainly see that sort of

development i would say more strongly maybe in afghanistan the middle east saudi arabia the emirates i mean on one hand they claim to be promoting women's rights on the other hand you had this for example. the united arab emirates earlier i guess was in january had a celebration or they wanted to give awards for gender equality that they were doing but only had men at this event and only men were being there for it was but is this sort of sort of shows the dichotomy it does seem that men are getting stronger or really tried to clasp or cling to that power we're seeing examples in afghanistan right now with the taliban deal that would be a real issue for women's rights a real blow if in fact this negotiation. steel comes to being that there's a peace deal in which women were not a part of all the afghan government was not a part yeah. ok well one trend that we've been seeing is for young women and girls to courageously take their future into their own hands and do what they can to

bring about change let's just take a look at for example so there. even you know so why change make you can change your community. educate girls that's malala yousafzai is message the young pakistani activist risked her life for her convictions in two thousand and twelve she was targeted by the taliban and shot on a bus on the way to school but she survived ever since then malala has continued her tireless campaign for girls' education. i'm not leaving my until i see you. see. this dramatic cry for help via twitter from a hotel room in bangkok made raft muhammad world famous in the end canada granted her asylum graf fled from her family in saudi arabia she felt threatened and restricted by the stern rules governing women's behavior there. i want to depend.

on you. my. swedish student activist greater turnberry spoke at the world economic forum in davos her sit down strikes protesting in action on climate change are a wake up call for politicians and inspire other students to protest courageous young women will they change the world. suzanne are willing to change the world as young woman. yes most likely yes and i think there are topics which are not focusing on. gender. issues i mean climate change for instance is something which will let us forget everything else i mean everybody will fight for it at the same type of end and this this this girl is a very impressive personality at the same time people like young ladies like. there's one. thing which should be mentioned behind especially in islamic countries

behind. outspoken women there's always a great father or men behind these women because otherwise they would not be allowed to do so i mean this this saudi lady she escaped she's the only one who did this without any support but great has obviously a supportive family in my letter has a supportive family and this other lady this other lady. she fled from have a family to be true to to live a life which she is seeking and i think yes young women will find their voice and will find their way in there will definitely. change the world yes i would say education has a lot to do with that more than a muslim countries at least a supportive family as simple as necessary for example the woman that i'm writing about who's the climb the highest mountain in afghanistan first afghan woman did

that she she her parents support her you know support her being part of this american program that allowed her to do this but but having said that i think education is more important i mean because i read in khandahar there was a young woman who fled her family because her family wanted to kill her because she wouldn't get married because she had gone to school she had taste in school she wanted to be a journalist and she was fleeing from house to house to be able to go to school that's what have power and bravery and just sort of resolve like we see with malala and women like that i mean to me it seems education is sort of a cork opponent that in turn. we saw a greater being point for a sixteen year old i phone quite militant saying it would do that she specifically said i want them to feel fear talking about the politicians do we need to be more militant still because you know as we said at the beginning of the program they've been waiting one hundred years sort of thing like full equality. yeah i think we need to be more outspoken i wouldn't call great

a militant for saying who's angry to. me that that's just the truth because i guess i only got a girl so. it's. a very yeah it's for me it's just something we all know that climate change is going to change the world as we know it and we all know that we had to react yesterday and tomorrow she is just bold enough to skip school to face the criticism of angry white men in this case and to be bold enough and say as it is so i believe maybe if people stop listening to her that's the way to go yeah. what you expect from men. that's a lot of like what do you mean it's not a loaded question. if you can see that almost. comes to power we mean women being in power yeah i mean we just we just agreed that there is something like a global confrontation between men and women what you want i do i don't see it that

way i see it i mean i guess for me it's the younger generation i look at my son for example who speaks about women completely differently than even my husband who is actually i would argue a feminist you know it's it just seems that there's more of a cohesiveness and i don't even think the younger generation esther looks and says you're a girl and i'm a guy i think that's maybe our generation that still says or you know our generation is still in charge so if you don't answer that is interesting and helpful. to them. i think there is a group which we should we use which we should have a dialogue which was. a mage a minority of whites of a white elite especially men who are now losing power and opportunities and everything but they're still extremely powerful and so the leverage they have also on. women who tried to change the world is

quite quite big and this is a confrontational situation which we will have to deal with in the future. yeah i mean. for me it's yes one thing it's about education but it's also about the way we talk to our children it's about the way which which example we get to our children because these structures will not change by themselves i don't believe that we need to give the frame and actually say it as it is that we live in this somehow sexist society and that we need to change that ok thank you all for being here today to learn rather than a very interesting discussion of women in power the better politicians will be i think the answer to that is no but they from very very different men and women thanks for joining us if you joined the show as much as i did come back next week and so on by barge and shields.

they are going to do more. for women for internet activists one mission to the free to. the consumer obsession and filings going to use of social media. their messages for script like i'm on fire. with a home in new york changing the world to. digital morris in fifteen minutes.

nico is in germany to learn german. polish benito why not learn with him online on the mobile and free to suffer from the w.b. learning course because vic. fighting for decades to be taken seriously in the world of war here's what's coming up. smart women. smart station. the superheroes are going to follow us about how to deal with them as women are celebrating international women's day was a big do isn't by no means missed out on a brain creasing dangerous new a tough job and married for mom. i am a flower. yeah i know i'm beautiful and i've heard it before and it never grows old. i'm worshiped from my lovers my scent my

looks but here's the thing life starts with me. you see i feed. every fruit comes for me. everybody taito me every kernel of corn me every grain of rice me me me me i know but it's true. and sometimes i feed their souls. i am their words when they have none i say i love you without a sound. i'm sorry without a voice. i inspired the greatest of them painters poets pattern makers i've been amused to them all. but in my experience people underestimate the power of a pretty little flower. because their life does start with me.

and without me. on. the former chairman of donald trump's two thousand and sixteen presidential campaign poll man a force has been jailed for almost four years on tax and bank fraud charges it was also ordered to pay fines of more than twenty four million dollars an f.b.i. investigation revealed manifold had hidden income from working for ukraine.