The Student News Site of Walt Whitman High School

The Black and White

The Student News Site of Walt Whitman High School

The Black and White

The Student News Site of Walt Whitman High School

The Black and White

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March 21, 2024

Where US democracy falls behind

Graphics+by+Naba+Khan.
Graphics by Naba Khan.

 

The U.S. ranks 74th in gender-based wage equality among 145 countries according to the latest Global Gender Gap Report, the World Economic Forum’s comprehensive ranking of countries according to overall gender equality.

The Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women is an international bill of rights for women that the United Nations General Assembly adopted in 1979. Only seven of the 193 member states of the United Nations haven’t ratified it: Iran, Palau, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Tonga and the U.S.

The United States is also the only high-income, developed country with no guaranteed paid leave for new mothers, according to CNN.

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So, what can be done to resolve these inequities?

One way to create better policies for women is to have more female policy makers.

Congress ranks in the bottom half of national parliaments around the world when it comes to female members (72nd). Women are better represented in Uganda (24th), Afghanistan (41st), Pakistan (65th) and Saudi Arabia (70th), according to the annual list the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) puts out.

Optimistically, other countries show unequal representation in government institutions can be remedied. Sweden, with 44 percent of parliamentary seats held by women, is fifth internationally, according to the IPU. It raised female representation without a gender quota.

“The turning point came in 1972 when the Liberal Party and the Social Democrats recognized the importance of involving women in politics and the importance women’s votes can play in politics. Since then, the situation has constantly improved for Swedish women in politics,” the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, an intergovernmental organization supporting worldwide sustainable democracy, wrote in an analysis after the 2002 elections.

One would think that a country must be economically prosperous before the ratio can be evened. Yet, Rwanda, Andorra and Cuba are the top three countries in terms of female representation in the national parliament, and they all have gender quotas. Rwanda enacted a new constitution in 2003 that mandated at least 30 percent of all legislative seats be reserved for women. Their lower house is now 64 percent female and the upper house is at 39 percent.

It’s attainable. Women can be equally represented in the political system, but can it happen in the U.S.?

“There is no way that the US will ever adopt a quota system,” Founder of the Women & Politics Institute at American University, Karen O’Connor, said in an email. Instead, “Parties and women’s organizations, such as EMILY’s List, need to reach out to women.”

EMILY’s List is an American organization which works to get pro-choice Democratic women elected to office.

“[Political] parties also need to change how they operate, making the rules of the game more transparent, contestable and open to revision to enhance diversity of leadership within the party,” Denise Walsh, professor of Politics and Women, Gender & Sexuality at University of Virginia concurred.

There are less conventional ways of achieving gender equality as well.

Ninety percent of Icelandic women went on strike for equal rights on October 24, 1975.

Women across the country refused to work, cook and look after children. Banks, factories, schools, shops, nurseries and other institutions had to close or run at half capacity. Many fathers had to take their children to work. Sausages—high in demand for being easy to cook and popular with children—sold out, according to BBC.

Iceland is now ranked first among 145 countries in the 2015 Global Gender Gap Report.

Maybe America needs an Iceland-esque protest.

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Comments (12)

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  • :

    :LApr 18, 2016 at 8:40 pm

    Y’all need Jesus

    Reply
  • V

    Voice of reasonApr 12, 2016 at 7:19 pm

    History consistently shows men as the builders of civilization, sorry ladies 😉 These “problems” don’t exist and the “solution” given is laughable. Two of the three countries you listed as beings champions of “female representation”(Cuba and Rwanda) aren’t particularly known for their human rights values. If having perfect ratios is more important than your quality of life, then try becoming a mathematician 🙂

    https://www.hrw.org/americas/cuba

    http://www.fgmnetwork.org/gonews.php?subaction=showfull&id=1237073426&ucat=1&

    Reply
  • T

    The ListenerFeb 29, 2016 at 1:42 pm

    Cute how the puny, sensitive, democracy-quenching black and white don’t post my comments anymore.

    Reply
    • T

      The Black & WhiteMar 1, 2016 at 12:12 pm

      A comment you posted on this story included a personal attack on the writer, not the writing, so we deleted that one comment.

      Reply
  • T

    The 1%Feb 25, 2016 at 9:54 am

    Here’s an idea B&W, how about you stop posting articles about useless and pointless topics like acceptance and women’s rights and maybe actually start posting article about news that people won’t lose brain cells over. I am sick and tired of seeing the extremely liberal people at the B&W infect my great school with this biased and useless garbage. How about getting some writers that are a tad conservative so it will actually be interesting to a large amount of people at WWHS. But of course, if anyone posted a slightly conservative article with some beliefs that are not going directly with the lunatic Bernie Sanders, people will come up an arms because of the extremely liberal nature of this school.

    Reply
    • C

      Could Not Have Said it Better MyselfFeb 25, 2016 at 4:24 pm

      Tolerance is not a two way straight for these liberals

      Reply
    • Q

      QueenFeb 25, 2016 at 5:44 pm

      Hey babe, I think it’s absolutely adorable how you think women’s rights are “useless and pointless.” If this is the type of article that causes you to “lose brain cells” then you should continue being the pathetic, lonely, little misogynist you are and never, ever read anything you disagree with. Obviously, you have nothing going for you and believing that someone’s gender makes them inferior is the only way you feel better. Go ahead and act out. Don’t worry, sweetie. Being ignorant and sexist is okay in America right now. This is why articles such as this one are necessary.

      Second, do you honestly believe asking for equality is “biased”? So cute! But next time please don’t use words you don’t understand, hon.

      One last point: you contradict yourself. You start with “I am sick and tired of seeing the extremely liberal people at the B&W infect my great school with this biased and useless garbage. How about getting some writers that are a tad conservative so it will actually be interesting to a large amount of people at WWHS.” And then say “Anyone posted a slightly conservative article with some beliefs that are not going directly with the lunatic Bernie Sanders, people will come up an arms because of the extremely liberal nature of this school.” Make up your mind, babe.

      Reply
      • R

        ridicFeb 27, 2016 at 6:39 pm

        My goodness! Are the pharmacists letting anyone get their hands on drugs nowadays! These libs need to watch themselves.

        Reply
  • S

    Social Justice Warriors in 3...2...1Feb 24, 2016 at 4:49 pm

    Sad to see that the false wage gap is being promoted here.The 23-cent gap is simply the average difference between the earnings of men and women employed “full time.” What is important is the “adjusted” wage gap-the figure that controls for all the relevant variables. A collection of universities reviewed the profiles of male and female college graduates one year after graduation. After controlling for several relevant factors (though some were left out, as we shall see), they found that the wage gap narrowed to only 6.6 cents. This 6.6 % is attributed to 1) Women pursuing less lucrative careers, 2) Men voluntarily working longer hours and 3) a lower percentage of women elect to negotiate wages.

    *Women are better represented in Uganda (24th), Afghanistan (41st), Pakistan (65th) and Saudi Arabia (70th)*
    I don’t even have to talk about this. In Saudi Arabia, women were only just recently allowed to vote in selective circumstances and hold office. In this country, women are stoned for being victims of crimes and yet you surmise that America is less egalitarian because of one, misleading ranking. I would encourage anyone to look up the rates at which women start small businesses in America and compare it to ANY other nation on earth. There is simply no question. Also, that 41st best female representation really works out great for the women of Afghanistan and Pakistan right?

    Reply
    • T

      TrueFeb 27, 2016 at 6:41 pm

      I have to say that as a liberal, that this is kind of crazy. One of the slides says that there has never been a female secretary of veterans affairs. Really, maybe that’s because almost all veterans are males. Next they’ll be saying that secretary of Native American Affairs should be white.

      Reply
  • D

    Donald J TrumpFeb 24, 2016 at 12:10 pm

    Women have zero reason to complain about what they think. women are payed less because they tend to complain when there is a tax on tampons but they want the GOVERNMENT to pay for abortions and birth control.

    Trump 2016

    Reply
    • N

      Not a racist entitled old white manFeb 25, 2016 at 5:59 pm

      haha this comment makes no sense.

      1. women dont complain about what they think.

      “omg i hate my thoughts” “same karen, i hate all the things i think”

      2. what does the wage gap have to do with taxes? also if women are being taxed higher shouldnt they be paid more as well? (yes, it’s “paid”)
      the complaining seems to be perfectly warranted.

      3. the govt should pay for abortions and birth control. in the long term this has many, many positive effects and ends up saving them a lot of money
      see: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3100324
      i have a plethora of related articles proving this, reply to this comment if you want them

      Reply