Last week, Ethiopia announced a dramatic political reform to become one of the world’s few “gender-balanced” cabinets. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed expressed to lawmakers that women should make up 50 percent or more of leadership, as he believes women are less corrupt than men. Since his inauguration in April, Ahmed has sought to use policy to transform Ethiopia’s highly patriarchal society and encourage public discourse about gender equality.
Days later, Rwanda made a similar announcement. Women now make up half of the nation’s 26-seat cabinet. The country’s history of strong female representation in government earned international praise in the past. Journalists have applauded Rwanda for introducing laws that empower and value women. It was only a matter of time before this respect for female leadership was reflected in the executive branch of the government.
Rwandan President Paul Kagame believes men still have their place in politics.
“But [they] must play an important role in upholding the rights of women,” Kagame said to judicial officials.
On multiple occasions, Kagame has made it clear that the inclusion of women in politics is only logical. Excluding such a large portion of the population from leadership positions would be a huge detriment to the nation.
According to UN Women, Rwanda and Ethiopia join just a handful of countries, most of whom are European, where 50 percent or more of ministerial positions are held by female representatives. As the global community becomes more accepting of authoritative female voices, balanced representation ought to be the norm rather than the exception.
When Justin Trudeau became prime minister of Canada in 2015, he famously made his cabinet gender-balanced. In a global environment where most governments have always been male-dominated, this was a significant decision. To achieve the balanced leadership he desired, Trudeau needed a sufficient amount of women in political positions that he could appoint to his cabinet. He decided to focus the energy of his team on convincing female leaders to step up and run for public office through a campaign called “Ask Her To Run.”
Instead of utilizing his authority to ask women to run for office, he relied on the power of sisterhood. Trudeau’s team emailed the “Ask Her To Run” mailing list, asking women to ask other women to run for office. It worked more effectively than anyone could have expected.
Women around the world choose not to run for political office for several reasons. Female candidates tend to have less money to run. The looming wage gap present in most societies means that many women, regardless of occupation or education level, are unable to afford taking time off work or quitting their jobs to commit themselves to running a campaign.
There is also a large confidence gap between men and women. Women usually must be asked to run because they don’t see themselves as influencers. They tend to underestimate their qualifications for the job and see themselves as unfit to hold public office. On the other hand, men tend to feel self-ambitious, whether their qualifications align with the job description or not.
Women may also fear stepping into a role heavily scrutinized under the public eye. Women disproportionately face internet harassment, including threats of rape and sexual assault. Their appearance is criticized by the media and online trolls. It always seems to be a lose-lose situation for female candidates – she is either too young or too old, too passive or too assertive, dressed too conservatively or too provocatively.
The lack of representation of women in public office also serves to dissuade women from running. If women don’t see themselves represented, they will not view political seats as attainable for female candidates, creating a vicious cycle where women don’t run at all.
The global community can work to create an environment in which female candidates feel comfortable running for office at all levels of government. Together, we can work to close the gender gap for the next generation of leaders.
