From Your (Wo)manInWashington blog
MOTHERS changing the conversation @ www.MothersOughtToHaveEqualRights.org

With each passing year, March 8th, International Women’s Day, gets a bit more attention.  There seems to be an increasing number of briefings, events, and press of all kinds about the status of women in different corners of the globe, maternal health and welfare, and the (positively glacial) progress of female leadership.  To mark the date this year, I surrounded myself with thoughtful, accomplished women and learned the following:

• When women have access to education, they are more likely to secure education for their children.
• When both women and men participate in running a country’s government and businesses, both the economy and democratic institutions are stronger.
• When women occupy a proportionate share of the work force, the national economy is more efficient and more productive.
• In the U.S., women and men make up about equal shares of the workforce, but women trail far behind in occupying positions of leadership.

The U.S. Congress is 83 percent men and 17 percent women.  Around the world, national legislatures average 17 percent  female representation, in spite of decades of women moving into the workforce and achieving advanced educational degrees.   The passage of time on its own will not lead to gender equality.  There is no lack of qualified women to lead.  Acknowledging that reality, many countries in Europe, South America and Africa have stepped up the pressure to increase the number of women in government by instituting a quota system.  In 2008, almost half the countries in the world required at least 30 percent female representation in national legislatures.  Sweden and Rwanda have the highest percentage of women in elected office, at 47.3 percent and  56.3 percent respectively.  Spain, Germany, France, Belgium, and the United Kingdom are among those nations implementing quotas.

Norwegian Deputy Minister Rikke Lind points out that women’s progress has never been given to them, but fought for at every step.  No one in possession of power will willingly give it away.  Having the same proportion of women in the paid workforce as men does not translate into women’s leadership.  Systems that currently favor men, who have access to networks, money, and influence, will not on their own start to promote women in the same way.  Legislative intervention is needed to change the face of power.   Electoral quotas in Norway have proven very effective.   Fully half of the country’s 20 senior ministers are women, and gender equality is regarded there as an investment in economic growth.  To facilitate women’s employment, child care and paid leave for fathers are national issues of significant economic importance.  Lind states simply, “Quotas work.”

But would quotas work in the U.S.?  I don’t think so.  In this country the concept of quotas carries the idea that but for the quota, the holder of the position would not otherwise have merited the spot.  There is a stigma to such a method.  In spite of women’s myriad accomplishments and demonstrated ability, the presumption will persist that whoever the office holder is, she didn’t deserve it  and couldn’t have earned it on her own.  Requiring a certain number of female seats would perpetuate an assumption of female inferiority.  Of course, what’s really going on is that we could never admit to ourselves that we hold imperceptible biases and prejudices in spite of ourselves, even when we are wholly unconscious of them.

If power has always worn a coat and tie, and nearly always has a white face and a deep voice, we will replicate that.  We are affected by unspoken cultural norms and experiences more than we know.  We want to believe that success is fair and opportunity equally distributed, that we are logical and just creatures.  But if that were so, how do we reconcile 17 percent female representation in Congress with the fact that organizations led by women and men make more money, better decisions, and avoid excessive risk?  If this truly is a land of opportunity, why do white men hold such a disproportionate amount of the power and money?  It seems to me that we would rather cling to our flawed belief that fairness will inevitably triumph than do what we must to actually make that happen.

For more deep thoughts on women, leadership, and quotas, check out this post by my friend and colleague Wired Momma.

‘Til next time,

Your (Wo)Man in Washington

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