In order to achieve true parity, the U.S. needs affirmative actions—gender quotas established by law. This will ensure that women are selected, appointed and supported in politics.
Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade two summers ago, we’ve seen the most significant setback in women’s rights in living memory. The end of Roe was a watershed moment, but the seeds of our current backsliding on women’s rights were planted long before the summer of 2022: State legislatures, dominated by men, had been steadily chipping away at women’s freedoms to make decisions about their bodies, health, and futures, for years. Once the Court, tipped to the hard-right by Trump-appointed justices, gave them the green light, those legislatures went even further, passing yet more laws that repress women and put their lives at risk, particularly women of color.
In this moment, the stakes of unequal gender representation in the halls of power are clearer than ever. The stakes are freedom or repression. Full citizenship or second-class. Life or death.
And the stakes of correcting this imbalance are clear, too. We need bold action to ensure that women finally have a meaningful role in shaping the laws under which we live, work, and make decisions about our own lives.
Since 1789, only six women have occupied a seat on the Supreme Court of the United States, one of the most crucial institutions for justice in this country; and in the last 237 years, only 60 women have held a seat in the U.S. Senate.
Women are 51 percent of the U.S. population, yet today our political leadership in the U.S. Congress sits at only 28 percent, and 33 percent in state legislatures. Today, despite decades of activism and legal and cultural progress, only 125 women serve in the U.S. House of Representatives, and 25 in the Senate. This means that, even if every woman in Congress voted for a bill, they wouldn’t have anywhere near the numbers to pass it.
This inequity has deep historical roots. Men, who for centuries have appointed themselves the protectors of women, have decided for thousands of years what our roles should be in society (despite the laws and acts of violence required to enforce these roles, men call them “natural”). Gender role stereotypes—which, yes, have been slowly changing—are the biggest obstacles to women’s participation in politics. Cultural and social norms, patriarchal structures or traditional societies that are male dominated, often discourage women from pursuing political careers. Structural and institutional barriers, like political party gatekeeping and economic barriers in campaign financing, usually centered in the conversation that men should be our political leaders, create less access to financial resources for women to run political campaigns, making it harder to compete with well-funded male candidates.
The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) has revealed that 82 percent of women that participate in politics worldwide have been subject to psychological violence, including sexist remarks, threats or harassment. Women in politics are far more likely than men to suffer violence and harassment, both online and offline. The media often focuses more on female politicians’ personal lives and appearances than in their policies, reinforcing stereotypes, discouraging us from running for office. Moreover, women tend to have two to three work shifts, and men have not gotten to the point where taking care of home is a shared duty, leaving women with less time to plan and compete for a political career.
In order to achieve true parity, the United States needs to implement affirmative actions—gender quotas established by law. This will ensure that women are selected, appointed and supported by political platforms. Strategically speaking, these quotas would ensure that women rise to the same level of political opportunities as men.
History shows us how effective quotas can be: Before the current Court’s conservative supermajority ended affirmative action, this country saw slow but steady and legally protected advancements of the rights of those who have been historically oppressed. And women have been politically repressed for a very long time.
Countries like Norway, India, Kenya and Mexico, where gender quotas have been successfully implemented should be an inspiration for our country.
In Mexico, for example, abortion is legal; no woman can go to jail for making choices about her own body. They have created new legislations that codify gender-based violence in different categories, and it’s punishable with jail. Femicides have a higher punishment and perpetrators go to jail for a longer time. And one of the most wonderful laws was passed: Ley Olimpia, a law that protects women from online crimes. Not only have women’s political representation increased, but legal protections have been created.
Women, like men, have the right to legislate, address neglected issues, and reclaim our freedoms while preventing further erosion of our liberties. We must recognize that not all women in politics will work in advancing women’s right, and that being a political woman should not be a privilege reserved only for white, wealthy, conservative women, but one that progressive, women of color, and those from all socioeconomic backgrounds can have access too. Not all need to become politicians, or leave their homes, families or non-political careers, but all women, specially women of color, should know that if they choose to pursue this path, they will be legally and economically supported, not only because the law allows it but because it mandates that women must be part of our political bodies, until true parity is achieved.
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