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Weekend Reading on Women's Representation September 6, 2019

By NationBuilder Support on September 06, 2019

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Women in the northeastern state of Assam in India
Hello friends!
Geetika Dang wrote a terrific piece on for Brookings on several papers that were presented at an event on July on women's political representation in India - I suggest reading her full piece but here is a teaser:
 
The authors estimate that the introduction of quotas for women in parliament, results in a 9% to 12% decline in maternal mortality. For lower MMR we require trained birth assistance, pre-natal care, and lower teenage pregnancies. As soon as gender quotas are implemented, the authors find a structural break in the following indicators:
  1. Increase in skilled birth attendance (8% to 10%)
  2. Increase in pre-natal care utilisation (6% to11%)
  3. Decline in birth rate
  4. Increase in girls’ education

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Weekend Reading on Women's Representation August 30, 2019

By NationBuilder Support on August 30, 2019

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Happy Women's Equality Day week!
Many thanks to Patti Russo for sharing this terrific image on Facebook this week in celebration of the 99th anniversary of women's suffrage - I would love to know who created it to credit their work properly!

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Weekend Reading on Women's Representation August 23, 2019

By NationBuilder Support on August 23, 2019

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(Suffragists protest outside the White House in Washington, DC circa 1919)
Happy women's equality week my friends,
As most of you in the U.S. know, this week marks the 99th anniversary of the day when voting rights for women became part of the U.S. Constitution - while there are a number of excellent historical sources that document this milestone, I found this one from Arizona State University especially interesting:

After 304 votes in the House of Representatives, 56 votes in the Senate, 36 state endorsements and one more declaration to put it into effect, the 19th Amendment — the proclamation that gave American female citizens the right to vote in all elections — took its place in the U.S. Constitution on Aug. 26, 1920 — 99 years ago.

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Weekend Reading on Women's Representation August 16, 2019

By NationBuilder Support on August 16, 2019

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(From East Asia Forum)
Hello friends!
This will be a super short rendition as there isn't a whole lot of news to report that I can find easily and my now-adult children are all home this weekend and a few of them are cooking dinner tonight so I am due at home!
But here are a couple stories to keep you company over Saturday morning tea or coffee!
There was a fascinating story from the East Asia Forum on the move toward gender quotas for pacific island nations - I long for this sort of sophisticated conversations about gender targets for recruitment and donations in the US:

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Weekend Reading on Women's Representation August 9, 2019

By NationBuilder Support on August 09, 2019

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“The enemy is not men. The enemy is the concept of patriarchy, the concept of patriarchy as the way to run the world or do things.”   Toni Morrison
Hello friends,
As I am certain you all know, the noted American author Toni Morrison died this week at the age of 88. The New York Times wrote about her life and work:

Toni Morrison, the Nobel laureate in literature whose best-selling work explored black identity in America — and in particular the often crushing experience of black women — through luminous, incantatory prose resembling that of no other writer in English, died on Monday in the Bronx. She was 88.

Her death, at Montefiore Medical Center, was announced by her publisher, Alfred A. Knopf. A spokeswoman said the cause was complications of pneumonia. Ms. Morrison lived in Grand View-on-Hudson, N.Y.

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Weekend Reading on Women's Representation August 2, 2019

By NationBuilder Support on August 02, 2019

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Nakuru County Chief office in charge of Gender, Culture and Social Services, Tume Abduba speaking at Regina Pacis Elimu School on July 4, 2019. PHOTO | FRANCIS MUREITHI | NATION MEDIA GROUP 
Dear friends and allies,
The first article to catch my eye this week was this very interesting one in the Daily Nation about the opportunities and challenges of using gender quotas to advance women's representation in Kenya - the students in the accompanying photo (above) are so clear-eyed and beautiful I thought they'd be a good talisman for us:
Gender quotas have for long been used as a vehicle to ensure women’s representation in politics. In Kenya, gender quotas were introduced by the 2010 Constitution. Although there is a considerable number of women in politics as a result, the two-thirds gender rule as stipulated in the Constitution is yet to be implemented.

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Women's Representation in Chile: Comparative Analysis of Gender Balance Legislation in Chile and Bolivia

By NationBuilder Support by on July 29, 2019

Chile is the country with the highest GDP per capita and Human Development Index in South America, yet it was one of the last countries to enact a gender quota law in the region. Though higher levels of economic development should be paired with greater gender parity, the reality is that Chile ranks 84th in the world in terms of the percentage of women in Congress, with just 23 percent in the Lower and Upper Houses.

"Moneda"by TheFutureIsUnwritten is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0

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The next set of Democratic debates are coming up. Here’s something to keep in mind.

By NationBuilder Support by on July 29, 2019

"Rally at US Sen 0197 Senator Elizabeth Warren" by mdfriendofhillary is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
"U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris speaks at L.A.'s Families Belong Together March" by lukeharold is licensed under CC CC0 1.0

Less than three years after the 2016 presidential election, a pattern is already emerging. Once again, we’re seeing intelligent, qualified women candidates being snubbed by voters who can’t seem to wrap their heads around the idea that a woman can be president.

In his recent opinion piece in The Washington Post, Robert J. Samuelson claims that though the 2020 Democratic candidates were “articulate,” “intelligent,” and “ambitious … without seeming too egotistical or ruthless,” none of them “seemed ‘presidential.’” But if not intelligence and ambition, what makes a candidate seem presidential? There are many answers, but the one that stands out in a presidential election cycle with a historical number of women candidates is gender. 

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Weekend Reading on Women's Representation July 26, 2019

By NationBuilder Support on July 26, 2019

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(Photos by Justin Sullivan and Bill Pugliano/Getty Images)
Dear friends,
The Pew Research Center released data this week on attitudes toward women as candidates for the presidency and overall the trend is positive for women's leadership though some differences persist along partisan lines. Interestingly, those surveyed believe that women face barriers when running for office - addressing structural barriers is of course central to the mission of RepresentWomen:

 

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Interview with Pantsuit Politics

By NationBuilder Support by on July 25, 2019

At a time when political tensions are high and the number of women in elected office is low, I asked Sarah Stewart Holland and Beth Silvers, the hosts of the podcast Pantsuit Politics, for their takes on how partisanship and women’s representation influence one another. With Holland on the left side of the political spectrum and Silvers on the right, the show features what their website calls, “grace-filled political conversations.” Since Holland and Silvers have been talking politics (politely) on the air since November 2015, they seemed like the perfect people to ask about where our society’s political conversations are taking us in terms of women’s representation.

 

infogram_0_019cddd0-a145-44cd-91e1-2dc95a7f1445Republican Womenhttps://e.infogram.com/js/dist/embed.js?yGvtext/javascript 

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