VCC Magazine Winter 2020

V irginia C apitol C onnections , W inter 2020 18 Women comprise more or less half of the electorate in every country. Yet, women lag behind men in political representation. To a certain extent, this can be attributed to the ongoing battle to overcome cultural and historical barriers to women’s political participation and empowerment. For example, until the passage of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1920, women could be denied the right to vote in the Unites States. Systemic restrictions such as this on women’s political empowerment clearly had an important and deleterious impact on the political influence of women. Nonetheless, despite the enfranchisement of women and the liberalization of electoral law around the world, women’s political representation remains quite low. According to the National Foundation for Women Legislators, women currently hold 89 of 535 seats (16.6%) in the Congress. Seventeen of those seats are in the Senate and 72 are in the House of Representatives. 1 In the state legislatures, women hold 1,718 of 7,382 (23.3%) seats. In global perspective, these numbers are quite low. In Nordic countries, women’s representation averages about 40%. In the rest of Europe the average is about 19%. Around the world, levels of women’s representation vary, but are generally much lower than the 50% figure which, based on demographics, one would expect. 2 The literature on women’s low levels of electoral success and political representation is quite diverse and offers a host of explanations for why it is so low. There are clear indications that making particular changes to electoral rules and laws will have a positive effect on women’s electoral success and increase their presence in legislatures. There are two suggestions in particular that have been proven to increase the percentage of women legislators. The first is simply to move away from the single-member district electoral system that we use in Virginia and the United States. It has been demonstrated time and again that this electoral system caters to and amplifies the power of political majorities at the expense of minorities and women. In the United States, we have chosen to solve the problem of minority representation by engaging in the costly, controversial practice of gerrymandering district lines to ensure that minority voters comprise a majority of the voting age population of legislative districts. This practice is quite controversial because it perpetuates the same process of manipulating voters that was used in the middle of the 20th century to deplete minority voting power. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 (and its subsequent amendments) forced states to abandon the process of discriminating against minority voters. In response, the states ironically chose to use the same process of manipulating district lines that had been employed to discriminate against minority voters to create districts that would ensure minority representational opportunity. It would be impractical (perhaps impossible) to draw districts that would ensure women’s political representation because women, unlike racial minorities, do not live in particular geographic areas. A simpler solution that would enhance minority and women’s representation would be to use multimember districts or a form of proportional representation. 3 Unfortunately, there remains great resistance to any such electoral reform in the United States. A second practice that has enhanced women’s representation throughout the world has been to require that political parties balance their nominations between men and women. This practice is used in countries that use the party-list form of elections in which voters vote for entire slates of party candidates instead of voting, as Americans do, for one candidate in one district. So, imagine a situation in which we Virginians voted for the entire slate of 11 congressional candidates every two years instead of voting only for the representative of our particular district. The ballots for the Democrats, Republicans and any other party would list the names of all 11 candidates for office and 5 or six of those candidates would be women. We would, therefore, just vote for the political party we preferred. While some criticize this process (because it essentially imposes a “gender quota” on the electoral process), others note that it simply provides an incentive (which is now lacking) for political parties to seek out and nurture prospective women candidates. Nonetheless, a small change such as this would have clear and important positive impacts on women’s representation. Regardless of how or whether a particular nation or state (in countries such as the United States) chooses to promote women’s representation, there is no question that women’s issues (and those concerning gender more broadly) will play an increasingly prominent role in politics in the United States and around the world. Accordingly, it is vital that nations work to ensure that women have a presence in our legislatures and government. It is actually a bit of a misnomer to refer to these as “women’s” or “gender” issues. In fact they are issues of demographics and political and economic development. As I write, for example, the political controversy surrounding New York’s redefinition of marriage to include homosexual couples continues as opponents are now seeking to overturn the law in court. How a nation defines marriage, how it therefore conceives of parental rights, divorce, inheritance, etc. all will entail a reconceptualization of the role of gender. As well, if developing nations wish to make transitions to democracy and more liberalized economies, the role of women will have to change. It has been demonstrated time and again that a key factor in the liberalization of a nation’s politics and economy is the education and professionalization of women. 4 Finally, and perhaps most ominous, the pensions crisis in Europe (which is spreading around the world) is perhaps the greatest threat to the world’s economic well-being. 5 Debates focus on the so-called “social contract” and the entitlements of retirees (concerning age of retirement, the amount of their pensions, etc.). Yet they overlook a key fact: much of the pensions crisis can be attributed to demographic changes brought about by the rise of women’s political power, corresponding changes in economic habits and, perhaps most ominously, changes in the size of families. The welfare state is now under enormous stress because the one key demographic assumption on which it was built no longer holds: population growth in Europe and the United States has slowed remarkably. As a result, there are fewer young people to pay into the retirement system. One does not receive one’s pension strictly from the funds he or she pays into the system. That money supports current pensioners. A nontrivial amount of one’s pension therefore comes from the workforce—collectively, the children and grandchildren of the pensioners. If family sizes decrease (as they have) then the welfare state will come under tremendous pressure. The redefinition of marriage (and by extension, the family), the capacity of nations to develop economically and politically, and the looming pensions crisis all clearly involve and have an impact upon the economic and political roles of women. Accordingly, it is vital that women have a prominent (or, at least a proportional) presence in legislatures and governments. At present, they do not. We imperil our future if we fail to remedy this situation. The Importance of Women’s Political Representation and Why It Will Have a Vital Impact on Public Policy By Mark Rush This article originally appeared in the Summer 2011 issue of Virginia Capitol Connections Quarterly Magazine. Continued on next page