Female Ruler

Comparative Essay-Wu Zetian of China and Pharaoh Hatshepsut of Egypt

Your name

Affiliation

My comparative essay is on two great female leaders, Empress Wu Zetian of China and the Pharaoh Hatshepsut of Egypt. Both of them were transformational leaders and brought great changes to their states. In 690 and 705 AD it was considered unnatural for women to rule in China, but Wu Zetian significantly ruled Tang dynasty and showed that women could be great leaders. Pharaoh Hatshepsut ruled Egypt between 1478 and 1458 BC. The reason for choosing this topic is to reveal the greatness of these two female leaders and acknowledge their great accomplishments towards their states.

Wu Zetian ruled the state when women were given freedom to participate in politics and help the government in reforming the culture. At that time women of China were given the opportunity to leave their submissive lives and play their role in the betterment of the state ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"L07Wp3OX","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Wong, 2018)","plainCitation":"(Wong, 2018)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":53,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/6hWtnKoy/items/TC3GTIFJ"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/6hWtnKoy/items/TC3GTIFJ"],"itemData":{"id":53,"type":"article-journal","title":"Representations of emperor Wu Zetian in Ming-Qing fiction:'Ruyijun zhuan'and'Jinghua yuan'","container-title":"Journal of the Oriental Society of Australia, The","page":"90","volume":"49","author":[{"family":"Wong","given":"Tin Kei"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2018"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Wong, 2018). On the other hand, Pharaoh Hatshepsut ruled the land when women were encouraged to live as housewives and live a submissive lifestyle. At that time in Egypt the only good job for women was considered to bake bread and cake, but still, Pharaoh managed to rule when women were given no importance as rulers (Horning, 2017).

Wu had made some significant reforms and attained many achievements, but she was also ruthless in the matter of power. She used some unfair means to keep the power only to her. For instance, she killed her relatives and took advantage of her position and power. On the contrary, Pharaoh never used ruthless and un fair means. She was an authoritative leader but never used her position and power for wrong deeds. She was a transformational leader and managed to rule Egypt for twenty long years.

The similarities between both the rulers were that Wu and Hatshepsut initiated some new agricultural projects in China and Egypt which gave an entirely new image to the respective states. For example, Wu laid her major effort on the farming projects. She ensured the successful construction of irrigation systems in China and tested the abilities of local officials to cultivate land, and she made sure that citizens of China should be highly benefited from the agricultural projects. For example, she provided aid to the peasant farmers so that they could increase their production which will eventually help the whole state economically. Similarly, Hatshepsut strived hard for the development of agricultural projects in both the lower and upper parts of the country. She provided the irrigation systems to the framers through which they could easily avail the water services to irrigate their crops ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"gOtNyshT","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Horning, 2017)","plainCitation":"(Horning, 2017)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":54,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/6hWtnKoy/items/I6WD22YU"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/6hWtnKoy/items/I6WD22YU"],"itemData":{"id":54,"type":"book","title":"Ancient Egypt: The Land of Pyramids and Pharaohs","publisher":"Greenhaven Publishing LLC","ISBN":"1-5345-6246-X","author":[{"family":"Horning","given":"Nicole"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2017"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Horning, 2017).

Wu and Hatshepsut had a common school of thought to appoint only the powerful and educated people for the government tasks. Wu even initiated the idea of interviewing the candidates before hiring them to judge their personality traits. Pharaoh Hatshepsut re-established the trade relations in Egypt which immensely increased the economy of Egypt.

Pharaoh and Wu came from two entirely different cultures, and their significant difference was on religion. The ancient Egyptian religion revolved around the divinity of its current rulers whereas the chines religion revolved around the worshiping of their ancestors. The similarity between these cultures was that their primary source of income was the agricultural projects and both the cultures had ruler system in common. Emperors and Pharaohs were seen as the rulers in China and Egypt respectively.

The leadership qualities of both leaders should be applied to the modern era. The best example is of Ellen Kullman, who is the chief executive of General Motors and she is beautifully running her business. The things that we can learn from the histories of these two great leaders are that modern companies should implement the excellent leadership qualities of Wu and Pharaoh. Females who are currently leading the governments and businesses can take a lot of benefit from the leadership qualities of Wu and Pharaoh ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"ldQEushr","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(McKenna, 2009)","plainCitation":"(McKenna, 2009)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":52,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/6hWtnKoy/items/M4EHSHAH"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/6hWtnKoy/items/M4EHSHAH"],"itemData":{"id":52,"type":"book","title":"The 100 most influential women of all time","publisher":"Britannica Educational Publishing","ISBN":"1-61530-058-9","author":[{"family":"McKenna","given":"Amy"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2009"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (McKenna, 2009).

References

ADDIN ZOTERO_BIBL {"uncited":[],"omitted":[],"custom":[]} CSL_BIBLIOGRAPHY Horning, N. (2017). Ancient Egypt: The Land of Pyramids and Pharaohs. Greenhaven Publishing LLC.

McKenna, A. (2009). The 100 most influential women of all time. Britannica Educational Publishing.

Wong, T. K. (2018). Representations of emperor Wu Zetian in Ming-Qing fiction:’Ruyijun zhuan’and’Jinghua yuan’. Journal of the Oriental Society of Australia, The, 49, 90.