Dilma Rousseff

Dilma Rousseff (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dilma_Rousseff (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.))

This hero is sixty-three year old Dilma Rousseff. She stands up for what is right, even if she is standing alone. Dilma Vana Rousseff has dedicated her life to getting women equal rights and working for social equality. Time Magazine listed her in the top one-hundred most influential people in the world (Bachelet 1). "The sixty-three year old President is also described as the "(woman) warrior who confronted the dictatorship in the name of democratic values" ("Brazilian" 1). She has been an energy minister, the president's chief of staff, an economist, a guerrilla, a torture victim, and she was the daughter of an immigrant ("PROFILEDilma" 1). Dilma is a hero because of her courage to keep going after being tortured and surving cancer and she continues to strive to use her power in Brazil to make people's lives better. Dilma Rousseff's family and childhood influenced her career in politics.

When Dilma was younger, her mom taught school and her dad was a political exile, until he moved to Brazil and became a businessman. For elementary school, she went to a boarding school taught by nuns and everyone spoke French. Dilma really started to get interested in politics when she entered high school ("PROFILEDilma" 2). Dilma annoced that, "I hope the fathers and mothers of little girls will look at them and say yes, women can" ("Quote 1"). Dilma Rousseff was named after her mom, Dilma. She was born in the state capital north of Rio de Janerio, Belo Horizonte, on December 13, 1947. Her parents lived in a middle class neighbrhood and this is where Dilma was raised as a kid.

DIlma Rousseff arrested (http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2010/10/29/f-brazil-dilma-rousseff.html (CBC News))

Rousseff was arrested at a bar in 1970 for no reason, all she did was walking in and one of her colleagues was sitting in the middle of a police sting operation. She never even took up arms. She was imprisoned for three years and released in 1973. While Dilma was in there, they tortured her with many devices of the Brazilian military and electric shock. Soon after her release, she went back to studying economics, graduating in the class of '77. Rousseff lost her first job due to her past political activities, so she decided to return to school to try and get her master's degree in economics. She never completed in getting her degree ("PROFILEDilma" 3). Instead, she fought off cancer. Dilma was diagnosed with lymphoma, but she overcame it and got back into the political game ("Dilma" 1). She was a fighter who refused to let cancer stop her (1).

Dilma Rousseff is currently the thirty-sixth president of Brazil and is the first women to run for Brazil's head of state. She won the largest percentage of the votes (fifty-six to forty-four percent). "She's repaving old roads, holding the door open for international and domestic investment, and reforming and expanding social benefits to boot" ("Dilma 1"). Brazil is set to host the Olympics in 2016 and the 2014 World Cup, setting the stage for her coutry to beome a major superpower (1).

In conclusion, no matter what life throws at one, one must keep pursuing what one wants to do. Dilma once said that, "It's not easy being the first woman to govern your country. Beyond the honor it signifies, there are still prejudices and stereotypes to confront" (Bachelet 1). Dilma overcame many obstacles in life, including being: tortured, arrested for no reason, losing her job for political reasons, and overcoming cancer. She is an inspiration to many.