More Than A Magazine, A Movement
I’m sure you all saw the amazing headline in the Washington Post about how women’s equality and domination has been achieved.
(Weekend Reading on Women’s Representation is a compilation of stories about women’s representation in politics, on boards, in sports and entertainment, in judicial offices and in the private sector in the U.S. and around the world—with a little gardening and goodwill mixed in for refreshment!)
The For the People Act, if passed by the Senate and signed into law, will be the most expansive voting and civil rights legislation in a generation and is already the most consequential anti-corruption bill brought to the floor of the U.S. House.
The dearth of women in political leadership positions, is not so much a problem with the pipeline, but a problem with promoting, hiring and nominating women to leadership positions at the same rates as men.
Fortunately it is a problem which can in large part be corrected by our already elected officials.
Despite record-breaking election cycles the U.S. remains continually outpaced by 70+ countries including the majority of our democratic allies—allies which don’t have better women running, but better systems for women to run in.
Political gatekeepers including political parties, PACs, individual donors and recruitment organizations all have a role to play in improving the rate at which women run for office. Here’s where to start.
With 2020 being largely defined by the crises which continue to wrack our democracy, many democratic reformers hope 2021 will be defined by the actions we take to address and correct the pitfalls of our electoral system.
Despite historic numbers of women elected to the 117th Congress, the U.S. continues to fall far short of gender balance.
Financial sanctions and incentives to enforce gender quotas have been gaining popularity both in politics and business over the last decade.
But in the U.S., despite decades of demanding a seat at the table, women make up less than 30 percent of all elected officials. Political parties and our government have a role to play in improving women’s political representation up and down the ballot; and, it is time they start using their money to make it happen.
RepresentWomen’s 2020 Gender Parity Index (GPI), scores and ranks all 50 states for women’s representation at the local, state and national level—giving an annual snapshot of the United States’ progress, or lack thereof, toward parity.
The lack of women in elected office is not the result of a lack of qualified women, but our electoral system which continues to hamper women’s attempts to run, win, serve and lead at equal rates to men.
