Merkel powers on, but not as a feminist

Torgau, Germany

ANGELA Merkel has spent her political career playing down her gender: shunning a feminist label, offering modesty, caution and diligent preparation as an implicit contrast to male swagger. The German chancellor seems to be coasting to re-election Sept 24 as the most powerful woman in the world.

But to the crowds who waited out a downpour in a flower-bedecked town square here to hear her stump speech at a campaign rally, she is simply their leader, her gender immaterial.