Did Angela Merkel Matter for Women?

German chancellor Angela Merkel has been called many things during her 16 years at the helm of Europe’s largest economy. Whatever labels have been affixed to this often-inscrutable woman, there is one that she herself has consistently dodged: feminist.
Anke Domscheit-Berg, a member of parliament from the opposing Die Linke (The Left) party, views the chancellor’s aesthetic choices as a kind of smokescreen. “It was like armor,” she said. “A type of protection against being considered a woman…She always refrained from almost all polarizing themes—and gender rights themes are always polarizing.”