Georgian speaker breaks macho mold

In this mountain nation, where the blood feud is still an occasional way of dealing with disputes, machismo is what defines a man. In some quarters, it is still considered normal to abduct a bride. And most everywhere, a woman's place is in the kitchen.

So it comes as a shock to switch on the television and see a parliament presided over by Nino Burjanadze, a woman and the second most powerful politician in Georgia. As speaker, the international lawyer is the nearest thing the country has to a prime minister.

Some here say she may eventually be headed even higher up the political ladder, to the presidency of this ex-communist Caucasus state, which has become a US ally in the war on terror and aspires to join NATO and the European Union.

"Maybe this is the age of the Georgian woman, finally," says Ronald Grigor Suny, author of "The Making of the Georgian Nation" and a Caucasus specialist at the University of Michigan. "Now that male politicians have proven to be such a flop in post-Soviet Georgia, clearly people are looking for alternatives - some ray of hope in a sea of corruption and political floundering," he says. "This is a great part of Nino Burjanadze's appeal."

Ms. Burjanadze brooks no nonsense from the MPs. "Sit down," she commands, and they sit down. Well, most of them. It's no small feat in the Georgian parliament, one of the world's most fractious assemblies. Before she took over, fistfights were common, and deputies insisted on the right to carry arms.

"Parliament is a sort of theater, and she plays it well - [with] a combination of femininity and wit," says Aleka Rondeli, head of the Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies and a former foreign-policy adviser to President Eduard Shevardnadze.

Burjanadze's lack of ministerial experience makes her vulnerable, however, to criticism that she lacks the qualifications to lead the country. Although she was chair of the parliamentary commission on foreign affairs and is now vice-chair of the parliamentary assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, she has no hefty track record in Georgian government or in launching important legislation.

Burjanadze has TV to thank for her meteoric rise in the opinion polls. Parliamentary sessions are screened live and have become compulsive viewing for a nation that thrives on drama.

According to the Georgian Opinion Research Center, GORBI, she is now one of the two most trusted politicians in the country. Almost 45 percent of Georgians say they trust her - way ahead of the 22.2 percent who trust Mr. Shevardnadze.

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