Pakistan, May 3 -- In October 2022, a woman stood on the steps of the Quirinal Palace in Rome and was sworn in as Italy's Prime Minister. In doing so, she shattered a ceiling that had held firm for over 75 years of Italy's republican history. Her name was Giorgia Meloni, and for women across the world who had been told that the highest corridors of power were not for them, that moment was electric. Meloni is Italy's first woman to hold the office of Prime Minister, and today leads what has become the third-longest-serving government in the history of the Italian Republic. In a continent where male leaders have long dominated the political stage; she has not merely found a seat at the table; she has built her own.

What makes her story tru...