Check out the latest data from the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) on the number of women in government worldwide. Just 18.9 percent of all elected leaders in both upper and lower parliamentary branches combined (House and Senate for example) are women. That’s correct, less than twenty percent of the world leaders (where data is available) are women.
The IPU’s mission is to establish representative democracy across the globe. One of its main areas of focus is women in politics. In 1997, the IPU Council adopted a Universal Declaration on Democracy which states, “The achievement of democracy presupposes a genuine partnership between men and women in the conduct of the affairs of society in which they work in equality and complementarity, drawing mutual enrichment from their differences.”
The IPU has also stated, “The concept of democracy will only assume true and dynamic significance when political policies and national legislation are decided upon jointly by men and women with equitable regard for the interests and aptitudes of both halves of the population.”
Yet here we are in 2010 with a worse than 80/20 split of men and women in leadership. And the United States is no role model. Our percentages in the House and Senate are below the worldwide average and we rank 74 on a list of countries classified by descending order of the percentage of women in the lower or single House. We rank behind Rwanda (number 1), Sweden (number 2), Norway, Cuba, Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and others. In 2009, we ranked 72. That is not progress.
What can we do about it?
The IPU published a Plan of Action “To Correct Present Imbalances in the Participation of Men and Women in Political Life”. When I read the plan, I was reminded of a conversation I had last year with one of my Selectman in the town where I live. He was up for reelection at the time. He told me the reason our town established a Sustainability Initiative was because an environmental activist had run against this Selectman in a previous election in order to raise awareness about environmental issues.
“So maybe I should run against you in this round to raise awareness for the gender imbalance in town politics.”
“What are you talking about?” he said “We have a woman on the board.” He wasn’t being flip. He was serious. There is one woman on a five person board so in his mind there is no problem even though that hardly gets us to critical mass (at least 33 percent representation) and the rest of the town boards are woefully unbalanced in favor of men.
Former Speaker of the House and classic Boston politician Tip O’Neill once said,”All politics is local.” In that phrase lies the answer to what can we do.
Start local. Most of us won’t ever get an invitation to the UN to discuss this issue, but we all have access to our local town hall. Pay attention to your town or city’s politics and ask the tough questions. Support women candidates with time and or money. Ask a woman to run for office, or better yet, why don’t you run? She Should Run is a great resource for women considering a run. That’s how the political machine works: start at the bottom and make your way up.
And visit us again Monday. I recently met with Harmony Wu, a small force of nature on the Massachusetts Democratic scene, and I will share my interview with her here.
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