Politics is one of the most powerful professions worldwide. Unfortunately, women are greatly underrepresented in this field. Women in leading positions and taking on the reins of something important, hasn’t been normalised yet. It is still not accepted by certain members of society.
Women have served as heads of state (or government) in only 22 countries; 119 countries have never had a woman leader. Even in a country such as the US, which has made so much progress in terms of gender parity, there don’t seem to be enough women in politics.
The 2020 US elections resulted in the appointment of the first-ever female vice president of the US—Kamala Harris. Even after almost 180 years of democracy, they haven’t had a single female president up till now.
Seeing as the US is such a developed country a world leader, it is disheartening to see such scanty progress in gender equality in politics.
Women Continue To Remain Underrepresented
In the year 2020, the US recorded the highest percentage of seats held by women in Congress. However, it was a meagre 27%—only one-fourth of the seats are held by women, even in the 117th Congress.
In India, only 14% of members of the parliament are women, with roughly half of them coming from only four states. The figure at the state level is even lower—women make up a slender 9% of the total elected candidates from legislative assemblies.
According to the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report (2020), India ranked at 122 out of 153 countries. This is an extremely low ranking when it comes to women’s representation in the parliament.
Women working in politics, a male-dominated field, are seldom appreciated even while producing greater results than men.
In the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, women were not permitted to cast their votes until the year 2015. If it took so long for these women to be granted the liberty to choose their representatives, imagine how much time will it take for them to be able to represent their nation?
Why aren’t there enough women in politics on a global level?
Women Are Better At Dealing With Crises
The biggest problem is of course, bigotry. Several people believe that women are not qualified enough and if they are excelling in the political field, it’s only on the basis of their gender.
Due to the presence of a patriarchal system, women do not dare to stand up for elections and have never been encouraged to do so. The patriarchal structure requires women to be the primary caretakers of the house, which hinders their capability to meet the demands of a round-the-clock commitment.
Patriarchy has people believing that a smart woman is an anomaly and a woman that voices out her concerns is too vociferous.
Research shows that women leaders performed better in the pandemic. The number of cases and deaths were relatively lower in countries led by women. Female-led states in the US had a comparatively lower death rate.
Some may argue that women perform better in crises than men, with respect to the current pandemic. Women have proved their worth time and time again. It is up to the world to recognise their capability and help them move forward, instead of setting back their progress.