#nonpartisanship

Rebecca Liu, Intern

Germany, Brazil, India, Argentina, and Australia—five of the world’s major players—have at least one thing in common: Each has a head-of-state who is female. Why, then, hasn’t the United States been able to elect a female President in its 235 years as a country?                                             

According to a political study conducted by researchers at both Stanford University and the University of Chicago, the statistics alone show that women outperform men as legislators on Capitol Hill. On average, women in Congress “introduce more bills, attract more co-sponsors and bring home more money for their districts than their male counterparts do,” as stated in a Politico article in which the study was cited. Women tend to compromise more and are more willing to “reach across party lines” in order to pass crucial legislation. Voters also tend to trust women candidates more, which is fitting, since women are often willing to work harder for their constituents. Women make up 17 percentage of Congress, but are 51 percent of the U.S. population and 54 percent of voters. Why, then, are there so few women in Congress?

For whatever reasons – be they psychological, personal, or social – women need more encouragement to enter politics. “Women in both parties are often more reluctant candidates, said several female senators, and those who advise them,” according to a recent New York Times article concerning the topic. Men and women also seem to run for office for different reasons, the article points out: “unlike men, who tend to be attracted to public office because of their interest in politics, women often run because their interest is sparked by a single policy issue, often quite local.” Men who have even the “slightest relevant experience” will jump at the chance to run for office “without a second thought.” Women, however, “need to be recruited and asked multiple times by multiple people in order to consider running” says the Times article.

In other parts of the world with different political systems, women are much more equally represented in government when compared to their percentage in the population. In Scandinavian countries in particular, women constitute almost half of the members of parliament. Functioning under a multi-party system, countries like Sweden, Denmark and Iceland not only foster women’s participation in politics, but make it much easier for women to enter the political sphere by providing quotas for the ratio of males to females vying for party membership. The Norwegian Labour Party, for example, implemented a rule in 1983 that stipulated all elections and nominations must represent both sexes by at least 40 percent.

The idea of quotas for diversity may raise a few eyebrows, but what is most important to consider in these cases is that the political structures of these countries, at the very least, encourage women’s political ambitions. Such quotas allow both genders equal access to active political participation. The same cannot be said for the American political system, and as a result, our democratic process often grinds to a full-fledged halt as the traditionally male members of Congress refuse to overcome stubborn partisan politics. While the whole point of democracy is to create enough friction among parties to prevent one branch of government or a single party from assuming absolute power, the entire democratic process is rendered pointless if nothing can be accomplished and bills cannot be passed in Congress.

What’s ultimately needed is a concerted, nonpartisan collaboration with both major political parties to encourage and train women to enter politics. What would have happened to the deficit bill if lawmakers weren’t hindered by stubborn, partisan refusal to cooperate? Working with the major parties to ensure both Republicans and Democrats understand how important women are to the democratic process will not only allow the parties to encourage and train women for party leadership, but also result in the active recruitment of women for political leadership—and ultimately a more productive Congress.

The bottom line: we need more women in office, regardless of political affiliation.