Of the many war stories that Dilma Vana Rousseff tells of her rise from revolutionary to career bureaucrat to president of Brazil, one in particular stands out. It was early in the race to succeed Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and most Brazilians were waking up to the idea of life without their hyperpopular leader, the “father of the poor.” One day in a crowded airport a woman and her young daughter tentatively approached Rousseff to get a closer look at the upstart female frontrunner. “Can a woman be president?” the girl—whose name, fittingly, was Vitória—wanted to know. “She can,” Rousseff answered. With that Vitória thanked Rousseff, raised her chin, and walked off a few inches taller.
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For those still in doubt, the U.N. General Assembly that convenes in New York this week is a portrait of a new world order. Hillary Clinton will be there, and so will Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, whose word may ultimately determine the fate of the stricken European Union. More remarkably, perhaps, four of the 20 women heads of state today (12 of whom are expected at the Assembly) hail from the Americas; the others are Argentina’s Cristina Kirchner, Laura Chinchilla of Costa Rica, and Kamla Persad-Bissessar of Trinidad and Tobago. And on Sept. 21, when Rousseff takes the podium, she will be the first woman to deliver the opening address to this global sea of suits since the U.N. was founded.
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