šļøThe Ensemble: Sons and Fathers in Iran's Leadership Stakes
This week I'm reflecting on women in war, Godparenting and the interface between sport and politics.
Greetings from Washington DC where Iāve returned after a brief trip across the pond to celebrate a very special International Womenās Day with the Christening of my Goddaughter Stella - yes, breaking News with Suz, I am a Godmother.
Iāve been thinking about what kind of world weāre creating for our children, and weighing especially on my heart has been the little school girls we lost in Iran, in an incident which now appears to be all-but-confirmed as an American attack which mistakenly targeted a school adjacent to an IRGC base. I began my series Women Building Peace with the words that women donāt often start wars - but they do fight in them. Between these school girls and the brave Iranian women soccer players, who refused to sing the national anthem at the Asia Cup in Australia and were threatened by the regime on State TV, the price women pay in man-made wars has never been more evident.
Attentive readers will have noticed we flagged in last weekās newsletter that Mojtaba Khameini, the son of the former Supreme Leader killed in an airstrike, could well follow his father into the role. And so it turned out on Saturday when he was confirmed as Iranās new ruler.
This story is one about sons and fathers - Reza Pahlavi, the son of the deposed Shah, appoints himself in exile as Iranās leader in waiting, and the son of the previous Supreme Leader takes on the actual mantle, for the time being at least.
The Daily Telegraph produced this deeply reported piece about Mojtaba Khameiniās path to fathering his own son - he and his wife underwent fertility treatment in London in 1998. Now that son, his wife, and his father are all reportedly dead, he takes on the leadership of Iran at a time when the country needs a progressive and creative leader who can bring peace and reform. It does not feel like a good match, if he is even still alive, which is uncertain since no images have been produced of him since last weekās announcement. In London however, his real estate portfolio on Billionaireās Row revealed has caused quite a stir.
Those of us who wish Iran to find new leadership may have a longer wait than weād like. Iāve been saying a lot this week that Iranās new leaders are likely inside Evin prison, where political prisoners are held, as I told NewsNation at the end of last week:
As I mentioned, the women of the Iranian national football team have also been at the heart of events - showing their dissent by staying silent during the national anthem in a game last week in Australia.
Now several players are reported to have sought political asylum there, given state media has been making threats to their safety, accusing them of ādishonourā. We spoke with an Australian journalist who covered the story on the ground for our podcast āGlobal Power Shifts.ā
Itās another example of how the line between sport and politics is being increasingly blurred - after criticism of the Winter Paralympics committee for allowing Russian athletes to compete under their own flag, and other tensions in the Winter Olympics and international tennis where athletes from counties at war did not acknowledge each other, or shake hands after events.
When Women Take Their Countries to War
One of the central beliefs of Helmet to Heels is that the world would be a better place if it had more women leaders; researchers have evaluated whether female leaders are less likely to start wars andā¦the results are mixed!
In a world where Mrs Thatcher went to war in the Falklands and Golda Meir led Israel during regional conflicts, itās too easy to say that female leadership makes war less likely. Weāve also noted in this newsletter the rise of strong nationalist leaders like Georgia Meloni in Italy and Sanae Takaichi in Japan, who challenge the idea that women leaders tend to be progressives like Sanna Marin or Jacinda Ardern.
And itās also interesting that revisionists have taken a more critical view of the leadership of Angela Merkel, who at the time was widely held up as a model of German progressive leadership, particularly during Europeās migrant crisis in the last decade. Now the era of āwir schaffen dasā (Merkelās can-do response in opening Germanyās borders to Syrian refugees) is being viewed more critically given the social and political impact of that wave of migration inside Germany itself, as well as Merkelās decision to close nuclear power plants in favour of more imported energy from Russia.
But I was most struck by this line in this particular article from Forbes: āFor female heads of state, the selection process may weed out more feminine women, and only allow women with more masculine attributes to advance into these roles. That is, women who behave in a more feminine, collaborative, empathetic manner might be less likely to be elected or appointed to lead their country.ā
Hotel Safety Hacks Trend
I was struck again by how little womensā safety is considered by major companies, in the wake of this report from the UK where a woman staying alone in a Travelodge hotel was assaulted after hotel staff gave a duplicate room key to a man claiming to be her partner. Itās the stuff of nightmares - and Iāve noticed how the TikTok trend for hotel security hacks seems to endure. Maybe those influencers werenāt wrong after all; itās also heartening to see a strong outcry amongst UK lawmakers demanding the company make amends and more importantly update its security protocols.
The Style of Philanthropy
I really enjoyed this piece about Mackenzie Scottās generational run as a philanthopist - and its focus on how she works, as well as the volumes of money she is giving away. The philanthropy world has been reshaped by the emergence of her fund - and the seemingly unorthodox way in which it operates, avoiding formal application processes, in favour of more informal outreach, clearly shaped by Scott herself. Alongside the Gates Foundation, this is another tech fortune being given away by those lucky enough to be able to use philanthropy to shape the world around us. This philanthropy style is H2H approved and weāre ready for your call to help us scale, Mackenzie!
Uniform Shoes in the Oval Office
Whatever other justified criticisms people have of President Trump, he is smartly dressed, knows his own personal style and sticks to it. This week itās been reported heās complained about the poor footwear standards of key Cabinet members, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and VP JD Vance. His answer has been to hand out pairs of his favoured Oxford leather shoes - and if they arenāt the right size, well so be it. Cue much snickering on social media about Rubioās seeming ill-fitting pair. US footwear politics is normally flats v heels, or indeed whether the āvertically challengedā are wearing lifts or not, like those favoured by Franceās President Macron.
