If I had told somebody fifty years ago that women would have leading political positions towards the end of the century, he or she would have most probably considered me as being mad.

towards 是介词，由词根 to（表示方向）和后缀 -ward（表示朝向）组成，意思是"朝...方向"或"接近某个时间点"。在这里表示"接近世纪末"的时间概念。