In Pelosi, women admire a leader with calm, cool confidence

Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Get our free Inside Washington email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. “It completely represented a woman in quiet control.” After her announcement this week that she would step down from Democratic leadership after two decades, many people reposted that meme of Pelosi confidently striding out of the Trump White House in sunglasses and a long red coat following a tense meeting. “When I look at that picture, I think, ‘Okay, stand up and say what you have to say,’” said Kelly Haggerty, 49, an engineer for the city of Syracuse, New York, who works on construction projects and often finds herself, like Pelosi, squaring off in a room full of men. “ if anybody has to go up against her, good luck.” And that female strength and tenacity are what angers people about Pelosi, Hillary Clinton and other female leaders, some women believe. “And in doing so she paves the way for other women in elected office to be just as tough and just as resilient.” If the country has yet to see a female president, the younger generations have at least seen Pelosi and a growing number of other women in Congress working beside them.