Pursuing Gender Equality

Recently I completed a college course entitled Women in Comparative Politics. Though politics is always a fascinating area of study, the thought of learning more about how women engage in politics in various societies intrigued me. I began the class believing that as an American, I had an advantage over most of the world. We claim to be more advanced than most countries. We have a democratic government that represents the people, and that is fair and balanced for everyone regardless of ethnicity, age, religion, or sex. By the end of the class, I realized that this is not the case, at least not entirely. Many other countries are far closer at achieving gender equality, and we as the “superpower” of the world could stand to make some improvements.

It may not be terribly surprising that women make up only 15.2% of the American House of Representatives. However, in a classification list of 188 countries, compiled by the Inter-Parliamentary Union, ranking countries by their percentage of women in parliament, America ranks as number 68. This should be highly criticized. Countries ranking higher than America include not only many of our European allies, but several countries that most would not consider highly progressive. Cuba, South Africa, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Vietnam all have more women representatives in government than America. As an American and a woman, I find it appalling that countries continuously portrayed as “less progressive” and “lower in status” than the United States are electing more women to their parliaments than we are. Women can not be equal without equal representation in government as a foundation.

To play devil’s advocate, I would like to point out that just because women are present in government does not mean they are always treated equally in society. For example, during the reign of the former Soviet Union, women were constantly present in their representative body of government thanks to a quota system. Quota systems require that an equal percentage of women are present in government. However, rights guaranteed to women in countries such as America were not enforced in the Soviet Union. In fact, Russian women still have serious problems with issues like domestic violence and harassment in the workplace. These problems may not be exclusive to Russia, but even reporting the incident is difficult for Russian women. Clearly countries can not be accurately judged by what they present in writing, or bring to international conferences for that matter.

So America is behind in equal gender representation. Of course, unequal representation is not the only problem that women in America face. Other problems plaguing women include domestic violence, sexual harassment in the workplace, unequal salary for equal labor, etcetera. I’m choosing to address unequal representation for a good reason. If more women are in government, there is a good chance that conditions would improve in many areas. No one can know for sure right now if this is completely true, but we will never know if women’s representation does not improve. The situation has to exist before the outcome can be determined.

What can be done at an individual level? For one thing, American women must vote for good women candidates. I am not suggesting we put just any female into political office regardless of qualifications. Take a good look at the female candidates, learn their political agendas, and make a good choice. Also, encouraging more women to get involved in politics is a must. The more females that attempt to run for a position, the higher the chance one will be elected. Try to encourage the major political party of your choice to have more women candidates. We all know the two major parties have a higher chance of winning any election than third parties. Volunteering is another step in the right direction. Supporting the women fighting to have their voices heard will prove to the country that we all want a say in our government! One last thing to remember ladies is that we are more than half the population. We are entitled to representation, and if we work together, we might just get it.