Gender and Political Power in Fiction and Fact

Those of you who know my predilection for all things Danish have probably been waiting for the inevitable blog entry on Borgen, the hit TV series based around a fictional female Prime Minister of Denmark. The opportunity has arisen to unite fiction and fact, however, as last night STV aired much of its Scotland Tonight programme on gender and politics which featured Scottish Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon interviewing the wonderful Sidse Babette Knudsen, who plays the Danish Prime Minister Birgitte Nyborg in the series, for a good 10 minutes. She has been commended by one critic for her "special ability to capture the modern woman's uncertainty and strength."

 You can check out the latest episode and some clips from
Borgen  on the BBC Four website - sadly for copyright reasons the programmes

are not available on catch-up.

Thank heaven for Tivo and Sky+. 

 

In case you haven't been paying attention to European politics since 2011, Denmark does indeed in reality have a female Prime Minister, Helle Thorning-Schmidt, who like her fictional counterpart was unexpectedly thrust into the role as P.M., the leader of a centrist party governing with a weak parliamentary majority. She has also had to make some uncomfortable decisions relating to her family life - the family’s accountant told authorities during a tax audit that her husband is gay, which she was forced to go public to deny. And you thought Arthur Andersen was bad.

Thorning-Schmidt's cabinet includes several women - Annette Lilja Vilhelmsen, Vice-Prime Minister and Minister for Business and Growth; Christine Antorini, Minister for Children and Education; Anne Kristine Axelsson, State Secretary of The Ministry of Justice; Ida Auken, Minister of the Environment; Pia Olsen Dyhr, Minister of  Foreign Trade and Investments; Mette Frederiksen, Minister of Employment;  Mette Gjerskov, Minister of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries; Karen Angelo Hækkerup, Minister of Social Affairs and Integration; and Astrid Krag, Minister of Health and Prevention. For an up-to-date view of women in power globally, stay alert with the Worldwide Guide to Women in Leadership.