The Iron Lady…Golda Meir
I am always engaged in learning about Women shaping our world. It is motivating and inspiring what they have achieved for us to be where we are, and understanding their struggle, helps us see what is still needed to do.
There is no question about my regard for Jewish history and religion. Since moving into New York, my exposure to it has broadened my curiosity, more so, I hold the suspicion that there are some Jewish roots in me. My family immigrated from the Old world about four generations ago, and just like Cortes, they arrived at the Gulf of Mexico on the Coast of Veracruz, where they settled. What this has to do with Golda Meir’s story is that I correlate with the biography I want to share today, the story of Golda Meir, or how she used to be called The Iron Lady, there is much inspiration to take from her.
Golda Meir was born in Kiev in 1898 (she is a Taurus like me). Her family soon emigrated to the U.S. in 1906 (Medzini, 2017). Growing up in the U.S. made for sure an impact in her formative years, where she was pretty much exposed to the social progressiveness of her times in Milwaukee. There are characteristics I firmly believe that you are born with; for Golda, her character was demonstrated in the early stages of her life. In the U.S. by age 11, she was already a social activist, where she helped provide books for underprivileged students. In my opinion, Meir was a rebel for a good cause, a risk-taker, based on the fact that Golda’s parents considered education unimportant for girls. Still, she defied them and ran away to Denver, where her sister lived (Medzini, 2017). Afterwards, she became a teacher at the Teachers College Milwaukee State Normal School.
In 1917, Golda became a very active member of the Zionist party. Zionism is the movement or political organization created to support the Jewish state and defend the promised land of Israel. The growing pain of antisemitism and the prosecution that Jews have faced during history led them in a strong movement to create and protect and restore their promised sacred land where they are to return and be saved.
In 1928, Meir was given the secretariat role in the then women’s council, popularly known as the Moetzet HaPoalot, Hebrew acronym for “Working & Volunteering Women.” This was the first feminist movement in Palestine to become full partners in the life of the labor movement and for women to not be limited to the kitchens work while men worked the land.
In 1946, She held prominent roles such as interim of the Jewish Agency when Moshe Sharett, head of the Political Department of the Jewish Agency, was arrested and imprisoned by the British for his Zionist activities. She became well known political negotiator when intervening for Jews with British authorities. In 1948, she was appointed Israel’s minister to the Soviet Union and from 1949 to 1956, she served in the Minister of Labor, where she showed her compassionate nature. Meir put together welfare policies to cater to immigrants and integrate them into the workforce, providing them with job opportunities and promoted the construction of roads and decent housing facilities.
It is in the same year that Israel was declared independent, there were 24 signatories for the declaration, where she was one of the 2 women in it. One of the biggest milestones, to my opinion, in her life and career that added a major impact in Jewish history.
“After I signed, I cried. When I studied American history as a schoolgirl and I read about those who signed the U.S. Declaration of Independence, I couldn’t imagine these were real people doing something real. And there I was sitting down and signing a declaration of establishment.”
In 1949, she becomes the Minister of Labor. Where she faces discrimination, due to people being unhappy with a woman taking such an office. We are to remember these were hard times for women, and in some elected positions, men were not being very supportive of the idea of having a woman holding office. Either way, she works in evolving social legislation like the National Insurance Act.
In 1969, She became Israel’s first, and only since then, female prime minister. She made it her plan to forge a peaceful coexistence with the Middle East, an effort that was brought to a close after the Yom Kippur war. Israel was ill-prepared for the war, this contributed to her resigning to her prime minister position in 1974. She remained in the government and held the position of a government caretaker (Reich, 1990).
She succumbed to Leukemia in 1976 after battling it for 12 years (Medzini, 2017). Her actions outlived her, we still celebrate her to date, and she remains an essential member of the Israeli history and the people whose lives she impacted directly or indirectly. She diligently served her people and held with the utmost respect the roles she was assigned. She has been and will always be a rich source of inspiration, a role model for character, and courage.
References:
Medzini, M. (2017). Golda Meir. De Gruyter Oldenbourg.
Reich, B. (Ed.). (1990). Political leaders of the contemporary Middle East and North Africa: a biographical dictionary. greenwood publishing group.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golda_Meir#Return_to_Milwaukee,_Zionist_activism,_and_teaching
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/israeli-women-in-politics-and-public-life
Steinberg, B. S. (2008). Women in power: The personalities and leadership styles of Indira Gandhi, Golda Meir, and Margaret Thatcher (Vol. 4). McGill-Queen’s Press-MQUP.
