Which female leaders would you want for various civilizations?

RedCourtJester said:
I wouldn't mind this at all (actually it would please my OCD greatly), but unfortunately Civ has been very inconsistent in their use of exonyms/endonyms.

I feel like certain leaders like Louis, Henry, Wilhelm, and Ivan should just have skin-swaps like the Koopalings in Smash Bros. Which Louis? Whichever Louis you want him to be.
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I am pretty sure the only 'rule' for Leader's names is that they be as recognizable as possible in English and as distinct as possible within the game. Especially in Civ VII, where the Leader is the ONLY real continuity between the Ages and Civs you are playing.

That makes any multiple names with just nicknames or numbers attached a very marginal prospect, IMHO.

It also means, having Napoleon I in the game already, we are not likely to see Napoleon III or any other Bonapartery.

On the other hand, having Hatshepsut instead of Cleo No. 7 means one of my current favorites, Cleopatra of Epirus is still viable. One out of two ain't that bad.
 
There are many worthy female leaders, but I fail to see the appeal of Eva Peron. It might be great to have some female scientists and artists as leaders though, like Marie Curie.
 
Anyway, after looking at what other people have suggested, I'm going to nominate somewhat of a curveball: Anna Karolina Jonsson (1880-1963). She was one of the four initial organizers of the 1917 Bread Riots (alongside Karin Östlund, Hilma Katarina Pettersson and Anna Maria Sjögren), which ultimately pressured the conservative lawmakers to finally make suffrage universal in Sweden, out of fear of their country going the way of Germany and Russia. It doesn't really matter which one of the four you'd pick, for all four of them could equally be described as a founding mother of democracy in Sweden.

The background is that a combination of WW1-induced sanctions and poor crops from the year before, meant that a lot of workers were literally starving while the ruling class still found ways to keep themselves rich. It was especially the working class mothers who had felt the effects of the food shortages, for while their husbands had very little political or economic power, the women had literally zero, which meant those same women had basically nothing to lose. The protests would often involve stuff like women walking en masse into grocery stores and demand to have a look in the inventories, just to make sure the shop owners weren't keeping stashes of food that would then be sold off in the black market or to warring nations for profit. The protests were originally just about ending the rations on flour and bread, hence the Bread Riots, but they over time grew in both volume and in the demands, bringing Sweden to the brink of revolution. Even after the government caved to the workers' demands (which at that time had sadly been taken over by men who somewhat got in the way of the women's initial demands), there would be many similar protests in the coming decades inspired by the Bread Riots, rapidly transforming Sweden into the democratic welfare state it would be known as. Given how this process would at least partially be copied across the globe for the coming century, this would thus make Anna Jonsson an unsung hero of feminism, workers' rights and democratization.

As you can probably guess, the reason I'm suggesting Anna, is because of how much her background and her accomplishments contrasted. She wasn't a blue-blooded royal, a distinguished warlord, a genius intellectual, a money-smart merchant or even a church-ordained saint; she was just a humble house-mother who had grown tired of feeding her children bread made out of dust & bark. Also, all the sources I could find on the 1917 Bread Riots were all in Swedish, and I feel this historical event could stand to be more well-known internationally.

As for what her abilities and agenda would be, my suggestion would be to give Anna Jonsson the ability to offer a unique treaty with any civ that has all its settlements on a food surplus, the treaty of which would globally boost said surplus even further for both civs. Thus, Anna's agenda would be all about making sure all of her settlements are well-fed, and mistrust any civ who doesn't do the same, especially if said civ is doing well on other fronts
 
Hypatia (for Egypt, Greece)
Razia Sultan (India-related, Chola)
al-Malika al-Hurra (exploration age, for Fatimids or Abbasids)
Anna Komnene (science/great work related ability, obviously Byzantine when they are included)
Madame de Pompadour (modern age, French empire), has cultural ability
Adelaide of Italy (Adelheid von Burgund, d.999, Germany or Normans): improves diplomacy
La Malinche (exploration age, Mexico and Maya), diplomatic ability
 
For France, Blanche de Castille would be my top choice.
Zenobia feels like she's be a great fit for Civ VII - a fairly recognizable name that's kinda hard to tie to a civilization but works great independently.
Matilda of Tuscany is a personal favorite, probably not great name recognition and we've already got an diplomatically inclined Italian leader in Machiavelli, so I don't see it happening.
 
Aethelflaed, Boudicca, Julia Domna, Grainne O'Malley, Ranavalona I, Dihya, Sayyida al-Hurrah, Anacaona, Olympe des Gouges, Mary Wollstonecraft, Lili'uokalani, Roxalana
 
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My specialism is in the Maya, so can mostly only think of Maya women that would be interesting to have as a leader. Primarily, Lady K'ab'al Xook I'm a big fan of personally so would love to see, although Lady Yohl Ikʼnal would also be a good fit and I wouldn't mind seeing Lady Six Sky again.
 
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Lord Lakely said:
Spain: Urraca
Malay: Siti Wan Kembang
Denmark: Margrethe I
England: Aethelflaed, Florence Nightingale
China: Hua Mulan, Ching Shih
Iroquois: Molly Brant
India: Lalleshwari, Lakshmibai
Byzantium: Anna Komnenos
Ottomans: Hurrem Sultan
Hittites: Puduhepa
Mongolia: Mandukhai, Töregene
France: Émilie du Châtelet
Italy: Matilda di Canossa
Greece: Laskarina Bouboulina,
Persia: Nur Jahan
Taino: Anacaona


There are many, but the above list is a start. :)
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Nur Jahan would be more fitting for India than Persia, but otherwise big agree
 
Bonyduck Campersang said:
Shajar al-Durr
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She'd be fun. "No, my husband is totally alive. I don't know why you keep me asking me that. No, I don't think it's odd that no one has seen him in days. He's...in seclusion...praying...for victory. Have some bread pudding."
 
Bonyduck Campersang said:
Huh? I never heard that she had a hand in the Sultan's death
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She didn't, but she kept it hidden that he died for as long as she conceivably could and ruled using his authority in the meantime.
 
Bonyduck Campersang said:
I could think of some:

al-Khayzuran
Shajar al-Durr
Sitt al-Mulk
Razia Sultana
Arwa al-Sulayhi
Sayyida al-Hurra
Nazo Tokhi
Lalla Aicha of Touggourt
Nana Asma'u
Nodira
Shahjahan Begum of Bhopal
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Ashifa Pahlavi, even if she is recent (about conteporary with Benazir Bhutto).
 
For the Netherlands there were many historic female leaders but most became so by heritage or marriage, or are from too modern of times like Wilhelmina.
But one folkhero during the 80 years war against the Spanish was so well known that her name became part of the Dutch language.
Her name is Kenau Simonsdochter Hasselaer (1526–1588), even though her deeds were exaggerated over time she is still remembered to this day and there was even made a movie "Kenau" about her in 2012.
Her name "Kenau" now means "shrew" in Dutch. Here a portrait from her made in 1600 a few years after her death.
Kenau_Simon_Hasselaers_-_Kenau_Simonsdochter_Hasselaer_%281573%29.jpg


Furthermore something not related. I saw someone say the Dutch/Netherlands don't need a leader because we have Napoleon, a Spanish leader or even someone like Maria Theresa.
That's absolutely absurd, Napoleon conquered and raped our country and he may be a hero in France he certainly isn't one in the Netherlands. About 30% of the soldiers fighting against Napoleon during Waterloo was Dutch/Belgian.
We fought a 80 year war against the Spanish so saying a Spanish leader can lead the Dutch is absurd too and Maria Theresa of Austria-Hungary did inherited the Southern Netherlands (modern Belgium) but you can hardly cal her a leader of the Netherlands and no one in the Netherlands would feel represented by any of them. Charlemagne was also named and he would be exceptable though, even if he didn't lead a place called the Netherlands then.
I understand not everyone will get a native leader in game unfortunately and I understand every leader can lead any civilization but saying someone don't need one because of a temporary foreign ruler or conqueror is insulting.
You can even call Hitler a leader for most of Europe's civilizations then, which is also absurd and insulting (including for the modern German people).
 
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