berlin <u+2014> as a german, i guess it<u+2019>s none of my business, but still <u+2014> i<u+2019>m excited about hillary clinton. as a woman, i feel she is in there for me, too. if things go right, for the first time in history, a woman, one of us, will rule the world. go, hillary! get us that job! the thing is, my excitement doesn<u+2019>t seem to be shared by many of my female contemporaries, american or german. certainly, mrs. clinton has increased her lead among female voters since donald j. trump<u+2019>s sexist remarks and the accusations against him of sexual harassment became public. still, polls also show that real enthusiasm is lacking. many women tell pollsters that it<u+2019>s great a woman will soon be president <u+2014> but why does it have to be this woman? their reaction reminds me of 2005, when angela merkel became the first female chancellor of germany. after she won the election, untainted expressions of enthusiasm from women were rare. alice schwarzer, germany<u+2019>s best-known feminist, was pretty much alone in calling it <u+201c>a real signal for women in germany,<u+201d> a historic moment comparable to <u+201c>a black person in the white house.<u+201d> i think she got it right, but many other women pointed to ms. merkel<u+2019>s mixed record as the minister of women and youth in the <u+2019>90s, her lack of a feminist agenda and her <u+201c>dispassionate<u+201d> manner. those critiques seemed unfair. what<u+2019>s wrong with being a woman and cool and collected? but there was no time to dwell on that, because germans quickly moved on to a hysterical debate on the failure of the new chancellor<u+2019>s husband to accompany her on her first journey abroad and the possible damage that the lack of a first wife <u+2014> excuse me, husband <u+2014> might inflict on germany<u+2019>s foreign policy. (ms. merkel<u+2019>s first visit was with the french president at the time, jacques chirac, by the way, who gallantly kissed her hand, which, too, set some minds spinning.) there are two reasons for this lack of enthusiasm, and they apply to ms. merkel as well as to mrs. clinton. many women still feel that powerful women are somehow not <u+201c>one of us.<u+201d> ms. merkel rose to power by besting the men around her. she took over the christian democrats by sidelining her mentor, the former chancellor helmut kohl (who used to call her <u+201c>mein m<u+00e4>dchen<u+201d> <u+2014> my girl). in 2005, she beat the macho chancellor gerhard schr<u+00f6>der, a man known for considering women<u+2019>s emancipation as <u+201c>ged<u+00f6>ns<u+201d> <u+2014> bric-a-brac. ms. merkel did so by applying her unusual political intelligence as well as an age-old machiavellianism, which led a female policy maker from the green party to grumble after ms. merkel<u+2019>s first election that the new chancellor was <u+201c>the christian democrats<u+2019> best man.<u+201d> the disappointment in angela merkel and hillary clinton echoes that strange idea from the early days of feminism that if women ruled <u+2014> being life-givers and thus naturally good and protective <u+2014> the world would be a different, better place. the way women were raised, even in my generation, instills in us a distrust of strategic action. we think we always have to be <u+201c>authentic,<u+201d> our actions in union with our hearts at all times, and that destiny will treat us to justice if we are. let<u+2019>s get over it. it<u+2019>s time we realized that the merkels and clintons of the world really are <u+201c>one of us,<u+201d> and that many of us could be them. the second reason for our failure to embrace the moment is our depressing lack of solidarity. over the summer, berlin was shaken by a scandal in ms. merkel<u+2019>s party. a young woman, a representative in one of berlin<u+2019>s district councils, published an open letter in which she described the sexism she faced during her brief political career, being called a <u+201c>cute mouse<u+201d> by a berlin senator and having to endure constant gossip about whom she might be sleeping with to get ahead. though nobody has disputed the basic facts of her account, it didn<u+2019>t take long before her motives and character were questioned, not least by other women. as a result we lost the opportunity to have a true conversation about being a woman in german politics. female solidarity is brittle at best. that doesn<u+2019>t mean we never cooperate. there are plenty of political and business women<u+2019>s networks in germany, not least in berlin <u+2014> and they have been pivotal, for example, in the establishment of a mandatory quota for women on the boards of large, market-listed companies. but we often lack the sort of true political battlefield loyalty to one another, the common cause that overcomes petty rivalries, jealousies and disagreements. it<u+2019>s the fate that often falls on the generations that emerge in the later phases of a revolution. there is a false feeling that we can afford the luxury of being divided. the restrictions that come with being a woman feel less existential today than they did when hillary clinton and angela merkel were young. but there is still a lot to do, from equal pay to true choice, and regression is always lurking. and ms. merkel has made a difference. though she was smart enough not to run on a feminist agenda herself (her party had a hard enough time accepting a woman; a feminist would have sent the conservatives running), she has supported several female cabinet ministers with strong feminist agendas over the years, and her cabinets have brought about important policy changes for women and men, such as improvements in parental leave. it is all the more important that we recognize and grasp unifying moments of victory and celebrate great leaders. so if things go right on nov. 8, pour some champagne, sisters, and show some pride! anna sauerbrey is an editor on the opinion page of the newspaper der tagesspiegel and a contributing opinion writer. follow the new york times opinion section on facebook and twitter , and sign up for the opinion today newsletter . a version of this op-ed appears in print on november 1, 2016, on page a1 of the new york edition with the headline: the parallels of clinton and merkel. today's paper | subscribe
what do clinton and merkel have in common?
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