By: Pratha Purushottam
Just over 20 of the world’s 193 countries currently have women as their heads of state. According to UN Women, gender equality in the highest positions of power will not be reached for another 130 years at the current rate. Yet, in recent years, women like Jacinda Acern and Angela Merkel have been universally applauded for their leadership, embodying what it means to be a politician for the people. The consensus shows that women tend to perform better than men in positions of power, especially during times of crisis. Such bleak underrepresentation of women in positions of power thus signals troubling consequences.
Gender-equal governments are more inclusive and give a voice to all their citizens. Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, South Africa’s first female deputy president and the former executive director for UN Women, stated that, in gender-balanced governments “you reduce the likelihood of missing out on the needs of some people because you just have never walked in their shoes.” Women bring fresh perspectives, and as a result, gender-balanced governments make better decisions because they are more representative of the people they serve. Looking at the status of women’s rights in countries with male-dominated governments, this holds true. For example, Daniel Ortega has occupied the presidential seat in Nicaragua since 2007, pushing his conservative Catholic ideals and diminishing the position of women in society for years. His government has revoked the legal status of multiple NGOs opposing Nicaragua’s abuse of women’s rights. In addition, Ortega’s refusal to adequately fund comisarías, special police stations run by women for women and designed specifically to address gender-based violence, led to nationwide shutdowns in their operations. A female leader would likely recognize the importance of such issues and therefore prevent the oppression of half the country’s population.
The COVID-19 pandemic evened the playing field of politics as the entire world faced the same crisis. From the beginning, it was clear that regardless of size or location, countries with female leadership—examples being Denmark, Germany, New Zealand, and Slovakia—tackled the pandemic relatively well. The women heading these nations “were proactive in responding to the threat of the virus, implementing social distancing restrictions early, seeking expert advice to inform health strategies and unifying the country around a comprehensive response with transparent and compassionate communication.” A study even found that female leaders acted faster and more decisively to reduce mortality rates in response to the spread of the virus because they prioritized saving lives over maintaining economic stability—something their male counterparts failed to do. Such empathy and decisiveness ensured significantly lower mortality rates from COVID.
Women are deterred from entering politics for several reasons. Political parties generally do not support female candidates because of their perceived electoral risk, inducing a self-reinforcing cycle of exclusion. Introducing quota systems for female representation in government is one way to solve this problem. Women also face significant violence in politics, scaring many away from government positions. Four in five women parliamentarians have experienced psychological violence linked to their job, one in four physical violence, and one in five sexual violence. Governments around the globe should criminalize such acts, and social media companies should take greater initiative to tackle cyber-abuse, especially body-shaming and sexual innuendo, both of which are often targeted towards women in politics.
Currently, women win elections, but at an incredibly slow rate. Making a concerted effort to elect more female politicians not only ensures better representation, but introduces new perspectives into a heavily male-dominated sector. Women’s proven leadership skills compared to men in the midst of crisis make them invaluable. In addition, introducing more women into positions of power would likely decrease the gender pay gap. Both voters and governments across the world need to work together to mitigate the dominant hold men possess over positions of leadership. If not, it will be over a century before we see equality. As the world continues to grow and shift towards a more globalized and modern future, women must not be left behind, but rather placed at the forefront of change.
