The elections are over, mostly with favorable results for “our” side of politics. Significant gains in both the Senate and the House of Representatives and there are many who can rejoice in their successful efforts. But a lot remains, in particular as it regards gender equality. How did the sexes fare in the latest elections?
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The new Senate will have 17 females (13D/4R), an increase of one for a total of 17% representation. The new House of Representatives will have 74 (57D/17R)females, an improvement of three for a total of 17% representation. Finally, there will be 8 female governors (5D/3R) – up from 7 for a total representation of 16%. Hence, for all major political elective offices, females account for only one in six representatives. There is some satisfaction in seeing the Democrats totally outperform the Republicans, but a lot remains to be done.
At the statewide level, in contrast, the number of women serving is expected to drop, although election results are not yet complete.
After all, women are half of the population and also possess half of the talent available to the nation. Fully utilizing all this untapped talent will undoubtedly make the society better.
How does the US fare in the global picture? The Global Economic Forum has just released its annual global survey where issues such as:
- Economic participation and opportunity – outcomes on salaries, participation levels and access to high-skilled employment
- Educational attainment – outcomes on access to basic and higher-level education
- Political empowerment – outcomes on representation in decision-making structures
- Health and survival – outcomes on life expectancy and sex ratio
are reviewed and scored. And the outcome this year:
The United States (27) made progress this year and closed gender gaps in estimated earned income and perceived income gaps for similar work. The United States also made strides in political empowerment, driven by increased participation of women in political decision-making positions. Switzerland’s (14) advancement up the rankings was based on large increases in the percentage of women in parliament and those in ministerial-level positions. France (15) improved significantly for the third consecutive year, thanks to gains in both economic participation and political empowerment. China (57) gains 17 places relative to last year driven by narrowing gender gaps in educational attainment, economic participation and political participation. Brazil (73) improves on education and economic participation but falls to 110th place in political empowerment. In the bottom half of the rankings, countries such as Tunisia (103), Jordan (104) and United Arab Emirates (105) made overall gains, driven by narrower gaps in literacy, and in the case of Jordan and the UAE, in the percentage of women in political decision-making positions. Syria (107), Ethiopia (122) and Saudi Arabia (128) not only fell farther in the relative ranking, but also showed a drop in scores relative to their own performance last year.
The survey shows that in most of the world there is close to parity between the sexes with regards to Educational Attainment and Health and Survival. What brings down the value of the index are the results for Economic Participation and, in particular, for Political Empowerment. The US scores an abysmal 0.140 on the latter index (out of 1.000).
Predictably, the Nordic countries occupy all the top positions in this ranking mainly due to the relatively high degree of political empowerment of women.
Outside the Nordic region, which usually scores well in measures of gender equality, New Zealand, the Philippines, Ireland, the Netherlands and Latvia were in the Top Ten. Germany, the United Kingdom and Spain all fell back slightly but stayed in the top 20, while France made the biggest leap, from 51st in 2007 to 15th in 2008.
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The survey looks at the how well countries are dividing the resources and opportunities they have at their disposal between men and women, which explains why relatively poor countries like Lesotho or Sri Lanka were ranked in the top 20. “The index does not penalize those countries that have low levels of education overall, for example, but rather those where the distribution of education is uneven between women and men,” co-author Richard Hausmann of Harvard University, told Reuters ahead of the report’s publication.
Overall, the report index suggests a strong correlation between gender equality and national competitiveness. The talent of a nation contributes to its ability to compete and failure to include females to the fullest extent in education, economic activity and the political process may result in the absence of the most creative solutions to problems and crisis that may arise.
And in times of global financial crisis, those resources may be needed more than ever. “Greater representation of women in senior leadership positions within governments and financial institutions is vital not only to find solutions to the current economic turmoil but to stave off such crises in the future,” concludes Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman of the WEF.
In Iceland, that call seems to have already been heeded. Last month two women, Elin Sigfusdottir and Birna Einarsdottir, were brought in to rebuild the country’s troubled financial system, taking over the two recently nationalized banks New Landsbanki and New Glitnir. A government official told the Financial Times in October that it was a sign that the women were now taking over. “It’s typical, the men make the mess and the women come in to clean it up.”
In order to improve, it is obvious that the US must do much more to empower women in politics. Will Obama’s election and his coming appointments make much (or any) difference.
