Carnegie Live

The United States has fallen behind most established democracies in women’s representation in politics. Women remain underrepresented at the federal, state, and local levels, and the current uptick in women running for office is unlikely to close this gender gap.

Saskia Brechenmacher will discuss key findings from her new paper, “Tackling Women’s Underpresentation in U.S. Politics: Comparative Perspectives from Europe,” with Cynthia Terrell and Michelle Whittaker, experienced political organizers and gender equality advocates.

Frances McDormand ended her Best Actress acceptance speech on Sunday night with a phrase so new to people that it immediately spiked on Google, trended on Twitter and became the top search of the night on Merriam-Webster.com.

"I have two words to leave with you tonight, ladies and gentlemen: inclusion rider,” she said.

What is an inclusion rider? Essentially, it’s a clause that actors and actresses could include into movie contracts that insisted on fair representation of women and people of color, both in front of the camera and behind the scenes.

By Allie Flinn

Happy International Women’s Day! It’s a day that happens once a year to celebrate the achievements of womankind. Personally, we think we should be celebrating women all day, every day — and Lush Cosmetics agrees.

By Cynthia Richie Terrell & Anne Moses

By Michael Layer

South Carolina is listed as the fourth least friendly state for women in America, according to an analysis by Wallethub. The personal finance and data analysis website identified 23 data points and evaluated the 50 states and D.C. to create the ranking.

By Jennifer Barrios

There’s a surge of Democratic women running for office in Maryland this year — and party officials say they want to make sure it stays that way.

New rules in place for the June 26 primary mean Democratic voters in 17 counties, some for the first time, will vote separately for men and women who are seeking central party positions.

By Kathleen Matthews

I wanted to respond thoughtfully to Ed Kimmel’s Seventh State blogabout the Maryland State Democratic Central Committee’s recent decision to adopt new rules to achieve gender balance by popular election on our county and state central committees.

By Erika Stalder

There’s no easy way around it: Women are vastly underrepresented in elected and appointed political positions. According to research from RepresentWomen, a nonpartisan initiative committed to achieving gender parity in office, the U.S. has fewer women in legislative positions than in 98 other countries in the world.

By Saskia Brechenmacher    

The United States has fallen behind most established democracies with respect to women’s representation in politics. Women remain underrepresented at the federal, state, and local levels. The current uptick in women running for office, while encouraging, is unlikely to close this gender gap. To accelerate the pace of progress, U.S. reformers could learn from European experiences and push for measures that tackle broader institutional barriers to equal political representation.