UNDP II: Closing the Global Political Gender Gap

Politics is, at its heart, the way societies organize themselves and delegate decision making power for the direction of society as a whole. To understand the global woman’s place in politics and power, we first need to briefly examine how global politics has changed over time in order to understand how women have fit into political models over time.

Democracy, though the explicit concept itself finds its roots in Athens, Greece circa sixth century BC and is believed to exist in a more undefined sense before that point, had not been the modern global norm until quite recently. The fall of the early modern empires and the rise of the nation-state have contributed to the democratization of the world, though the process is very far from complete.

Before the rise of the power of the people as a whole (democracy), authoritarian rule, often under the principle of hereditary monarchy, dominated the global political sphere. The hereditary nature of the succession, however, “tended to supercede the principle of gender discrimantion, meaning even very sexually regressive socieites have allowed female monarchs to rule them from time to time, if that's how the monarchical birth lottery [went] [sic]."

The transition from executive/authoritarian power to the power of legislatures changed the nature of problem, however. Though democracy is undoubtedly a positive phenomenon, it did not come without its problems: when people elect their leaders, their biases can often impact their vote, allowing societal sexism to keep women out of elected positions.

One of the earliest problem with the application of democracy to global governments is that it wasn’t even truly democratic: for a significant portion of the democratic evolution, women were denied suffrage itself; thus the term democratization is more accurate than the phrase “onset of democracy,” as the world is still experiencing the evolution itself and has yet to reach true democratic values (for example, the State of North Carolina is no longer considered a democracy). Click here for a timeline of women’s suffrage across the globe.

Another important dimension of the topic, and in feminism more broadly, is the intersection of race and ethnicity with the fight for equal rights. The basic idea behind this is that feminism, including the fight for equal political representation, should be for all women, not just white women.

Women as Politicians

Democracy can be said to have spread political power out as opposed to keeping it concentrated within one/a few person(s), but this also allowed sexism to penetrate the political system: Currently, there are about 22 women serving as heads of state or government, out of a total of 196 nations in the world. Women make up about half of the world’s population, so this number shows the gross inadequacy of female representation as top executives in nations around the world. Women fare slightly better in representation in national parliaments, holding about 23% of national parliamentary seats in the world, though this figure is still far from the equitable 50% figure that would enable accurate representation of women’s interests worldwide.

On July 26, 2016, Hillary Rodham Clinton made history as the first female presidential nominee of a major American political party, the Democratic Party. Women had run in presidential primaries before (Victoria Woodhull, Margaret Chase Smith, Shirley Chisolm), but until Clinton, women had only been featured on Presidential tickets twice before, both as potential vice-presidents (Geraldine Ferraro in 1984 and Sarah Palin in 2008).

Key point: women are extremely underrepresented in political leadership worldwide.

What are some actions the UNDP can take to encourage the promulgation of women in both parliaments and in executive positions?

Descriptive Representation

The point of political representation is the accurate delivery of voter preference into decision-making bodies. To make that relevant for this topic, the job of an elected official is to represent the opinions of his/her constituents when the assembly that he/she is a part of is making decisions, and to take specific concerns from constituents (particularly campaign promises) and introduce legislation or programs that are centered on those.

One facet of the political incorporation for women is the debate regarding substantive versus descriptive representation. This tension is basically just debate over whether a representative can advocate for groups they are not a part of--descriptive representation is when, for example, an African-American female legislator can advocate for issues affecting African Americans, issues affecting women, and issues affecting African-American women. Substantive representation is the idea that a politician can be a representative for groups s/he is not a part of - that, for example, a white man can still advocate for his constituents, including women and people of color.

Some countries confront this by instituting quotas in their electoral system, for example by designating a certain number of Parliamentary seats to go only to women, and to be voted on only by women. Debates surrounding the efficacy of these quota systems reflect the tension between substantive and descriptive representation in politics. A good overview can be found here.

Key point: There is a theory (called descriptive representation) that only members of a certain subset of the population can accurately represent the interests of that subset.

How does the theory of descriptive representation impact the recommendations the UNDP will be making to nations worldwide?

Intersection of Race and Gender in Politics

Another important dimension of the topic, and in feminism more broadly, is the intersection of race and ethnicity with the fight for equal rights. The basic idea behind this is that feminism, including the fight for equal political representation, should be for all women, not just white women.

The implications of this imperative involve ensuring that women entering politics in their nation are representative of all the women in their nation, hearkening back to the idea that descriptive representation will mandate that only a woman from a certain ethnic group can accurately represent the interests of the women of that specific group. The UNDP will have to work to develop guidelines and strategies to ensure the representation of all groups of society, including minority groups.

Key point: promoting women within politics will not be enough; there must be women who are representing all subsets of society.

How will the UNDP advise governments on policies that try to ensure accurate representation for all sectors of society?

Women's Education and Suffrage

Today, two thirds of the world’s illiterate population is female, and there are 4 million more girls than boys out of school. Of the 31 million primary-school aged girls that are not in school, 17 million are never expected to enter school.

Increasing education can increase women’s earning potential, reduce birth rates, reduce hunger and poverty, and increase the likelihood of political involvement for women. In addition to making sure that girls are going to school, it is imperative to ensure that they are able to learn at those schools, as just ensuring that a girl can go to school is not the same thing as ensuring she has a positive learning environment compared to her male counterparts. For example, the sex of the teacher, whether a girl has to work outside of school instead of study, and the distance travelled to school can all significantly impact learning quality.

The UNDP’s mandate in this regard is to work with member nations to develop innovative solutions that extend educational opportunity--including ensuring an equitable learning environment in addition to basic access--to every girl in member nations, and to develop policies for the implementation of these solutions.

Key point: improving global access to equitable education for women is key in the fight to their political and economic empowerment.

How have some nations tackled the problem of lower education rates for girls, and how can other countries emulate those attempts?

http://www.qub.ac.uk/cawp/

https://planetrulers.com/female-leaders/

This is a list of current female political heads around the globe.

https://www.ndi.org/what-we-do/gender-women-and-democracy

The National Democratic Institute is committed to supporting democratic endeavors worldwide, which has to include full political incorporation and participation of women around the globe. They work with various organizations to encourage civic participation and safeguard democratic elections.

http://www.cawp.rutgers.edu/

The Center for American Women and Politics is a branch of the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, and focuses on producing academic work and data regarding female participation in politics.