For seven decades, Queen Elizabeth II not only navigated the United Kingdom through pivotal moments in history — including political changes, wars, civil rights movements, and most recently a pandemic — she also served as a role model for many women and showed what a female world leader can achieve.
“She was ruling the country at a time when married women in the U.S. needed their husband’s permission to get a credit card,” said Amber Brugnoli, associate vice president and executive director, WVU Office of Global Affairs, putting perspective on the amount of power most women had when Elizabeth inherited the throne.
Even though the royalty of England are now largely figureheads and diplomatic entities, rather than the actual rulers of the country, Brugnoli said Elizabeth took her role seriously from the beginning and strove to be a great leader.
“She was not ever expected to be queen, you know — her father was not in the direct line of succession,” she said. “The role was kind of thrust upon her and was unexpected …”
In addition to the unexpected inheritance, she took over the throne at a time when the world was in turmoil. Britain was coming out of World War II and the entire empire was changing, as colonies began to gain independence.
“For someone that was not expected to be in that role — and who I’m sure a lot of people thought would stay a figurehead and be the pretty face that would represent Britain and that would be it — for her to challenge that and to say ‘No, I need to know more about the politics of my country. I need to know more about what’s going on’ — it was almost unheard of in that time period,” Brugnoli said.
Lisa DeFrank-Cole, director and professor of the WVU Leadership Studies Program, said for 70 years, young girls not only in the U.K., but throughout the world, grew up seeing a woman that was very well-known and well-regarded in a senior position, in a very important place.
“She did it very, very well — to the best of her abilities. And you know — as far as we can tell — there weren’t any missteps,” she said. “I think that it speaks to what we expected of women in leadership — we expected perfection — no drama.”
DeFrank-Cole said she believes the former embodies a quote Marian Wright Edelman once said — “You can’t be what you can’t see.”
“Seeing women in these high-level positions encourages and inspires other women to reach for their goals in senior leadership,” she said. “Only about 5% or 6% of Fortune 500 CEOs are women. Only about a third of college presidents are women. Only 28% of the U.S. Congress is women. You know, even here in West Virginia, we’ve never had a female governor.”
DeFrank-Cole pointed out that Elizabeth led during the women’s rights movements of the 1960s. “Second generation feminism into the third generation — we’re now in the fourth generation, fourth wave, of feminism. And I mean, she saw us through all of those and gave us good lessons for later generations.
“When you think about representation, and how much it matters, I think the Queen’s presence definitely shows us that women can lead and do so very effectively,” she said. “When given the opportunity, women absolutely go above and beyond in their leadership roles.”
Brugnoli said she believes that King Charles III will likely try to cut back on some of the fanfare and ceremonial nature of the monarchy as they move into the future.
With Charles inheriting the crown at 73, his reign will be significantly shorter than his mother’s.
“When he’s no longer on the throne, you know, how will Prince William with a young family handle the monarchy?,” Brugnoli said. “I mean, there could be a lot of change in a relatively short period of time after seven decades of stability.”
That stability is what made Queen Elizabeth II not only a unique female leader, but a leader who has endured and will be immortalized as a pop culture icon in film, TV, and other media, the experts agreed.
DeFrank-Cole said, “She was a queen for all generations.”
“Truly a queen of the people,” said Brugnoli.
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