Abstract
This afterword summarises our main findings and discusses their political and scholarly implications. We find that Merkel's leadership style and foreign policy approach were consensual during her first term in office; moreover, she did not overtly address women's issues -- although her coalition did promulgate legislation which improved conditions for some German women. Our argument here is not that the Chancellor adopted this leadership style and these policy positions because she is a woman per se, but because she is a woman with a particular background. We show the utility of studying national leaders individually in order to determine how their gender roles have been defined, and how such roles intersect with social characteristics. This method can be fruitfully applied in other cases as well. As such research proliferates, the field will be able to draw more generalisable conclusions about the intersection of gender, social characteristics, and executive leadership. Adapted from the source document.
