In October 2022, a woman stood on the steps of the Quirinal Palace in Rome and was sworn in as Italy’s Prime Minister. In doing so, she shattered a ceiling that had held firm for over 75 years of Italy’s republican history. Her name was Giorgia Meloni, and for women across the world who had been told that the highest corridors of power were not for them, that moment was electric. Meloni is Italy’s first woman to hold the office of Prime Minister, and today leads what has become the third-longest-serving government in the history of the Italian Republic. In a continent where male leaders have long dominated the political stage; she has not merely found a seat at the table; she has built her own.
What makes her story truly extraordinary is not just where she arrived, but where she started. Meloni’s father left her family when she was a child, and she was raised by her mother in the working-class. There was no silver spoon, no political dynasty, no inherited influence. From a young age, she displayed a sharp interest in politics and Italian national identity, and at just fifteen, while most teenagers were navigating school and friendships, she took her first step into political life. This early beginning is itself a powerful lesson, passion and conviction, not privilege, are the true prerequisites for a political career. What distinguishes Meloni from politicians who rise suddenly and fall just as quickly is the depth of her experience. Her career was not the product of a single viral moment or a stroke of luck, it was constructed methodically over three decades. Under her leadership, the party saw a meteoric rise in popularity, culminating in her historic election as Prime Minister following the 2022 general elections. This gradual, committed climb through every level of political life, from local council to cabinet minister to party founder to head of government is a masterclass in political endurance.
South Asian politics, with its deeply feudal and familial structures, has historically opened its doors to women primarily when those women were daughters or widows of powerful men.
One of the most iconic moments of her public life came not during a policy debate or a diplomatic summit, but at a rally in 2019. Speaking to a crowd, she declared with fierce conviction: “I am Giorgia, I am a woman, I am a mother, I am Italian, I am Christian. And you can’t take that away from me!”. In a political world where women are often coached to soften their edges and appeal to everyone at once, this was a remarkable act of self-definition. She was not asking for permission to be who she was; she was announcing it. Politics at the national and international level has historically been a masculine domain in culture, language, and habit. Meloni did not pretend otherwise. Instead, she navigated it with ideological conviction and tactical shrewdness in equal measure. She moderated her image where necessary without abandoning her core beliefs, a balance that eludes many politicians of any gender. Her government is already the third longest-serving in the history of republican Italy, and could potentially be the first in post-war Italian history to complete an entire parliamentary term without experiencing a political crisis, a staggering achievement in a country where governments have historically averaged just sixteen months. In 2024, Forbes ranked her the third most powerful woman in the world, and Politico ranked her the most powerful person in Europe in their Class of 2025.
Whether one agrees with Meloni’s politics or not, her journey offers universally valuable lessons for any woman who dreams of public life. Start early and start local, she entered politics at fifteen and built her career from the ground up, because waiting for the “right moment” is the enemy of ambition. Define yourself before others define you, in public life, your narrative will be written by others if you don’t write it first. Build genuine expertise, because there are no shortcuts to credibility, and credibility is a woman’s most powerful political asset. Above all, resilience is non-negotiable. Meloni’s rise was not without controversy, critics challenged her party’s roots, her policies polarized public opinion, and she faced intense international scrutiny. She did not retreat. She adapted, refined her message, and kept moving forward. For women in Pakistan and across South Asia, where barriers to women’s political participation remain formidable, Meloni’s story is especially resonant.
She came from a working-class background in a deeply patriarchal society. She had no famous family name. She was doubted, mocked, underestimated, and caricatured. And she became the leader of a G7 nation. This contrast becomes even sharper when one considers the most celebrated female leaders that South Asia has produced. Benazir Bhutto, Khaleda Zia, and Sheikh Hasina are names that loom large in the region’s political history, and rightly so, each broke barriers simply by holding power in deeply conservative societies. Yet it is worth pausing to examine how they arrived at the heights they reached. Benazir Bhutto was the daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, one of Pakistan’s most dominant political figures.
Khaleda Zia rose to prominence as the widow of President Ziaur Rahman, founding her political identity around his legacy. Sheikh Hasina leads the Awami League as the daughter of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father of Bangladesh himself. All three women were undeniably courageous, governing in environments hostile to women, facing exile, imprisonment, and in Benazir’s case, assassination. Their bravery must never be diminished. Courage and grassroots origin are two different things. None of these leaders built their political base from nothing. They inherited parties, symbols, voter loyalties, and dynastic legitimacy that had been earned by the men before them. Their entry into politics was, in large part, made possible by the surnames they carried. This is not a criticism of who they were, it is an honest observation about how they got there.
South Asian politics, with its deeply feudal and familial structures, has historically opened its doors to women primarily when those women were daughters or widows of powerful men. The ordinary woman, the one without a famous father, without a martyred husband, without a dynasty behind her has rarely been given the same path to power. This is precisely what makes Giorgia Meloni’s journey so important as a model for women today. She had no political inheritance. No family name opened doors for her.
She built every alliance herself, contested every election on her own terms, and founded her own party from the ground up. Her message to women is not “inherit power”, it is “build it.” In a world still largely run by men and still largely passing political influence through family lines, Meloni’s rise from a fatherless girl in Garbatella to the leader of a G7 nation is proof that a woman need not wait for permission, inheritance, or tragedy to enter politics. She need only decide to begin.
The writer is a seasoned professional and a columnist. She can be reached at [email protected]