Annalena Baerbock belongs to a generation of women whose path to success was paved by predecessors, who were told that they should play along in the games of others if they wanted to succeed. The others. For Angela Merkel, they were mostly men. So, she adopted a wardrobe of blazers and pants and chose to prioritize policy over personality. Baerbock appears eager to send a different message. She is hoping to establish a more feminist foreign policy, she often wears skirts and high heels and she talks frequently about children. She seems to be saying: I am here. And I've got this.
Baerbock is the first woman to head the German Foreign Ministry. While it still isn't a matter of course for her to be where she is, after 16 years with Merkel as chancellor, it no longer seems unusual to see a woman in high political office. Baerbock, though, apparently wants to demonstrate that self-confidence and femininity can combine in a political role.
When Baerbock visited Sarajevo in early March, a walk through the Old Town was on the agenda. The program booklet assembled for the trip recommended "flat shoes" – a suggestion that the protocol certainly would not have noted in the case of her predecessor Heiko Maas. Baerbock ignores it and wears black boots with high heels. But not for long. She has to leave her boots outside during a visit to a mosque. She isn't however, interested in covering her hair and instead places the scarf that is handed to her around her shoulders.
Baerbock shows her femininity when and where she wants to. But she doesn’t want to be reduced to it. "No headscarves and no bouquets of flowers," she has instructed her protocol team. After all, she said, her predecessors didn't receive bouquets during their visits either. Still, she says, the bouquet rule couldn't really be enforced everywhere, not even with partners with the best of intentions.
Her self-confidence, her aspirations to power, led Baerbock one year ago, on April 19, 2021, to become the first member of the Green Party to run for chancellor. There were, of course, voices on social media suggesting that primarily men on the right-wing fringe were less than enthusiastic about the possibility of a woman from the Green Party moving into the Chancellery. Generally, though, she experienced goodwill and recognition and rode high in the polls.
Her campaign, though, ultimately could hardly have gone worse. She had to admit to belated reporting of additional income, which embarrassed both her and her party. Then, it turned out that her official resumé had been embellished. And her first book, which was launched at the beginning of her campaign, earned her allegations of plagiarism.
Before long, the entire country was occupied with the question as to whether her self-confidence and aspiration for power were greater than her actual abilities.
Baerbock did better toward the end of her campaign. But measured against the expectations that had been raised in the beginning, when the Greens were at 28 percent in some polls, the party performed rather disappointingly in the federal election, scoring only 14.8 percent of the votes. But then Baerbock got a second chance, as foreign minister.
With the severity of developments since then, the term "second chance" sounds rather trite. The conditions that emerged soon after Baerbock took office are dramatic, dire even. No foreign minister before her has had to deal with such a geopolitical catastrophe as quickly as she did: the invasion of Ukraine by Russian troops. Now, the big question of the election campaign, whether Baerbock’s self-confidence and ability are in balance, is no longer an issue. There is simply no room for weakness. Together with her colleagues from the other EU countries and with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, she has to hold Europe and the West together to make peace. There is no other option.
So, how is she faring?
