Iron Lady is a nickname that has frequently been used to describe female heads of government around the world. The term describes a "strong willed" woman. This iron metaphor was most famously applied to Margaret Thatcher, nicknamed so in 1976 by the Soviet media for her staunch opposition to communism.^[1]

Leaders who have earned the unofficial title (some of them postfactum) include:

• Margaret Thatcher, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990
• Barbara Castle, a British Labour Party leader, whose active political career spanned over 40 years.^[2]
• Indira Gandhi, the Prime Minister of India from 1966 to 1977 & 1980 to 1984
• Golda Meir, the Prime Minister of Israel from 1969 to 1974
• Eugenia Charles, the Prime Minister of Dominica from 1980 to 1995 known as the "Iron Lady of the Caribbean"
• Yulia Tymoshenko, Prime Minister of Ukraine since 2007 (and in 2005)^[3][4]
• Angela Merkel, the Chancellor of Germany since 2005
• Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, the President of Liberia since 2006^[5]
• Dalia Grybauskaitė, the President of Lithuania since 2009^[6]

Some female politicians have been given similar nicknames:

• The Iron (or Steel) Butterfly is a nickname of former Philippine first lady Imelda Marcos.^[7]
• Iron Rita is a nickname of former Dutch immigration minister Rita Verdonk^[8][9]
• "Jern-Erna" (meaning; "Iron-Erna") is a nickname of the leader of the Norwegian Conservative Party, Erna Solberg.^{[citation needed]}
• Former United States Secretary of State Madeleine Albright was given the nickname "Titanium Lady", playing on some of her similarities with Thatcher.^[10]
• In response to Manuela Ferreira Leite's nickname "Dama de Ferro Portuguesa" (Portuguese Iron Lady),^[11], her opponents and critics ironically started referring to her as "Dama de Latão" (Yellow brass Lady) and popularising the term.^[12]

"The Iron Lady" is a popular Parisian nickname for the Eiffel Tower.

"Iron Lady of the Seas", a 1984 video, and Iron Lady at Sea, a 1988 book, are about Star of India, the oldest iron-hulled merchant ship afloat launched in 1863.^[13]

Iron Lady is also the title of a song by Phil Ochs. In this song, the Iron Lady is a metaphor for the electric chair. This song was also performed by Diamanda Galás on her live album Malediction & Prayer in dedication to Aileen Wuornos.

Iron Lady is a Warcraft III LAN gaming competition held by SteelSeries and directed at female Chinese players. The event was created in 2007 and has completed 2 seasons already. Some well known players include Zhang 'Cang' Xiangliang and Xu "Sara" Yinghua, both of whom played in the IronLady.2 Final.

[edit] See also

• Persephone, called the "Iron Queen"

[edit] External links

• Feature on Iron Ladies by the International Museum of Women

[edit] References