Women in Power has Increased by 7 percentage Points SInce 1995

Women in Power has Increased by 7 percentage Points SInce 1995 
 Woman Thou Art God 9 21 08
Thanks to Mercurius for sharing this:
http://jezebel.com/5052309/women-will-rule-the-world-eventually
 
On the heels of the news that a woman could be the next Israeli Prime Minister, a study released by the United Nations Development Fund for Women claims that women have entered politics in greater numbers than ever in the past decade. The New York Times reports that women account for 18.4% of parliament members worldwide. The good news is that the proportion of women in power has increased by 7 percentage points since 1995. The bad news? If things continue this way, it will take until 2045 for women to reach parity in the developing world. That's 37 years from now.
 
(In case you're wondering, some of the countries with female presidents or prime ministers currently leading are Ireland, New Zealand, Finland, The Philippines, Mozambique, Germany, Liberia, Chile, India and Haiti.) 
 
In any case, Rwanda is making big news since, as of its elections on September 15, the majority of the seats in its Parliament (44 of 80) will be held by women. According to a report in The Economist: "That level of representation—once seldom seen outside Scandinavia—has less to do with an upsurge in feminist thinking than with a law passed in 2003 that guaranteed women 30% of the seats. The aim was to break up 'old boy' networks and help the country make a new start in its first elections since the 1994 genocide." 
 
The UN suggests that even though there are women in politics, they're still lacking in leadership positions. A Latin American study showed that while 47 percent of party members in Paraguay were women, they held just 19 percent of leadership positions. Some of this is sure to be covered in a documentary airing tonight on PBS, titled Women, Power and Politics. 
 
As for the United States of America, where a woman stands in the harbor of New York, welcoming the tired and poor? How many years do you think it will take before we have a woman leading here?
 
U.N. Study Finds More Women in Politics [NY Times]
Women Rising [Economist]
Cracking the Glass Ceiling, in Rwanda and Elsewhere [NY Times]
Related: Current Female World Leader Count [Filibuster Cartoons]
Earlier: Foreign Minister Is In Position To Be Israel's First Female PM In 34 Years
 
Read More: 1The More Women Are In Charge, The Less People Hate The Idea Of Women In Charge 
1:30 PM on Fri Sep 19 2008
By Dodai
 
40 Comments Triphena at 01:34 PM on 09/19/08 Reply by Email * Connectedness Index: 0 
"The bad news? If things continue this way, it will take until 2045 for women to reach parity in the developing world. That's 37 years from now."
 
What's 37 more years after, 10,000, though? 
 
 Archetype at 01:34 PM on 09/19/08 Reply by Email * Connectedness Index: 0 
8 years. 
 
 Archetype at 01:35 PM on 09/19/08 Reply by Email * Connectedness Index: 0 
@Triphena: Hey, I'll still be around. Unless I'm hit by a bus or something. 
 
 ms_havisham at 01:37 PM on 09/19/08 Reply by Email * 
A Latin American study showed that while 47 percent of party members in Paraguay were women, they held just 19 percent of leadership positions. 
 
I don't know where Paraguay is! 
 
 pandorasmittens at 01:37 PM on 09/19/08 Reply by Email * 
 
@Archetype: I am currently knocking on wood for you.
 
 LaComtesse at 01:39 PM on 09/19/08 Reply by Email * Connectedness Index: 0 
 
I want to know what's in the water in Scandanavia that has made it such an awesome place for feminism to actually take root in the general population...
 
 Treeless at 01:39 PM on 09/19/08 Reply by Email * 
This is not bad news to me. It's inspiring.
 
No one slows down when they see the finish line. 
 
 LaComtesse at 01:39 PM on 09/19/08 Reply by Email * Connectedness Index: 0 
 
@ms_havisham: That's okay. You just need to know where your local McDonald's is (hint: probably next to the Wal*Mart.)
 
 mints at 01:40 PM on 09/19/08 Reply by Email * 
 
Sebelius/Warner '16
 
 Archetype at 01:40 PM on 09/19/08 Reply by Email * Connectedness Index: 0 
@pandorasmittens: I know, after I sent that through I thought, "fuck, I just jinxed myself." 
 
 kelsium at 01:41 PM on 09/19/08 Reply by Email * 
 
That's awesome about Rwanda! While generally when I read posts like this I feel really cynical about things, I am optimistic about the fact that the tides of the world are turning.
 
 Triphena at 01:41 PM on 09/19/08 Reply by Email * Connectedness Index: 0 
@Archetype: If there's no wood in the office, find a ream of paper. Quickly. 
 
 RedTide at 01:43 PM on 09/19/08 Reply by Email * 
 
Willing to wait another 4, at least, for our turn, thank you very much.
 
 Clare116 at 01:44 PM on 09/19/08 Reply by Email * 
 
I grew up in Maryland with one male Senator (Paul Sarbanes) and one female Senator (Barbara Mikulski). My congressman growing up, Kweisi Mfume, was black and later president of the NCAAP. My current congressman is Elijah Cummings, who is also black. William Donald Schaefer, a white guy, was the governor when I was a kid, but the second most prominent politician was Baltimore's Mayor Kurt Schmoke, who was black.
 
So I was SHOCKED when I got to high school and found out that women and minorities were so poorly represented in the ranks of government. 37 years seems both crappy and not so bad. I still have trouble wrapping my brain around the fact that Barack Obama is the fifth black senator EVER and only the third since Reconstruction.
 
 kelsium at 01:44 PM on 09/19/08 Reply by Email * 
 
@LaComtesse: I think that having a pretty stable economy and generally homogenous population--plus early socialized healthcare and education leads to a more egalitarian outlook on things.
 
 exelizabeth at 01:47 PM on 09/19/08 Reply by Email * Connectedness Index: 0 
 
In 37 years, do you think we'll have gender parity in politics in the developed world? In, oh, let's just say, the US?
 
I think they might have us beat.
 
 exelizabeth at 01:47 PM on 09/19/08 Reply by Email * Connectedness Index: 0 
 
@ms_havisham: Paraguay?
 
 scullymurphy at 01:52 PM on 09/19/08 Reply by Email * Connectedness Index: 0 
In 37 years the daughter I'm currently carrying (yes, it's a girl - yaaaay!!!) will be just eligible age-wise to be president of the United States. Whoo hoo! Although I hope she's not the first female pres, mind you... 
 
 Archetype at 01:58 PM on 09/19/08 Reply by Email * Connectedness Index: 0 
@scullymurphy: Congrats! 
 
 sarah.not.palin.of.a.l... at 01:58 PM on 09/19/08 Reply by Email * Connectedness Index: 0 
 
@scullymurphy: Yay, congrats! I hope she's not the first one either.
 
 Jamisonian at 02:00 PM on 09/19/08 Reply by Email * 
Economist: "Quotas to help women reach power are spreading" - you make us sound like a case of the clap. 
 
 dirtybee says bee... at 02:14 PM on 09/19/08 Reply by Email * Connectedness Index: 0 
Why pink? Does anyone else find this a little offensive? Just a tad? 
 
 kelsium at 02:17 PM on 09/19/08 Reply by Email * 
 
@dirtybee says bee yourself!: Nah, I think we're reclaiming pink just like we're reclaiming "bitch" and baking cookies.
 
 Cesybabe at 02:21 PM on 09/19/08 Reply by Email * 
 
We wont have a female Prime Minister in NZ for much longer. We did have a really good go at one stage, where the Chief Justice, The Governor-General, the Speaker of the House and the PM were all women. That rocked my socks.
 
 foodandshoes at 02:25 PM on 09/19/08 Reply by Email * 
@dirtybee says bee yourself!: Pink used to be a "masculine" color so go figure. It's not like they used Hello Kitty print or *sparkles* to designate female-led countries. 
 
 scullymurphy at 02:26 PM on 09/19/08 Reply by Email * Connectedness Index: 0 
@Archetype: @sarah.not.palin.of.a.lesser.god: Thank you! I'm so shamelessly happy it's a girl. One more little jezebel! In fact isn't Jezebel kind of cute for a middle name? We should begin reclaiming it from the bible thumpers.
 
Also just to stay o/t I sincerely hope Palin isn't the US's first foray into having a woman in the ultimate leadership role. Shudder. 
 
 Lymed at 02:40 PM on 09/19/08 Reply by Email * Connectedness Index: 0 
 
I just thank God that we, America, have THE ONE running for VP, so that we can be like all those backwards countries and open the doors for the womens. It doesn't matter that she might close doors for our rights to control their reproduction or might be against efforts to equalize pay, because she will be opening the door for herself to have way more power than she deserves, because she is THE ONE!
 
 ManhattanManHatin' at 02:44 PM on 09/19/08 Reply by Email * 
@LaComtesse: I wish it wasn't so damn cold there, or I'd move. 
 
 Dauphine at 02:59 PM on 09/19/08 Reply by Email * 
Even though our PM is male, in Canada our actual head of state is female. 
 
 puffthemagicmuffin at 03:08 PM on 09/19/08 Reply by Email * 
Ireland has actually had two female presidents. The first was the fantastically wonderful my total hero Mary Robinson!!! The only problem is it is a largely ceremonial office (apart from their function under article 26 under which they can ask the supreme court to judge the constitutionality of proposed bills and if they approve it is beyond constitutional challenge, which Mary Robinson used for the 1995 Regulation of Information Act, which put Irish women's right to abortion information and and right to travel for abortion services beyond challenge) I can't imagine we'll have a female Taoiseach (prime minister) any time soon. Still female heads of state = good. 
 
 puffthemagicmuffin at 03:10 PM on 09/19/08 Reply by Email * 
I mean to say on the statue book, not beyond challenge, at the end of that first little bracket 
 
 puffthemagicmuffin at 03:13 PM on 09/19/08 Reply by Email * 
I also worry about the "well we've elected a female president obviously everything is fine now, and no Irish laws are sexist, and everything is grand so those stupid feminists should stop complaining cause what more do you want?" attitude
 
sorry for the multiple posts its just something i've given a lot of thought to. 
 
 RaisonPassion at 03:21 PM on 09/19/08 Reply by Email * 
@Dauphine: True, but female represenation at the House of Commons is slowly declining because of the conservative party which has the lowest female:male ratio (I think it's about 21% of the candidates are female) not like the NDP which is at 30/40% not that I am biased 
 
 StellaBella07 at 03:33 PM on 09/19/08 Reply by Email * 
@LaComtesse: It's not next to the Wal-Mart, it's inside of it! 
 
 Dauphine at 03:33 PM on 09/19/08 Reply by Email * 
@RaisonPassion: Pfft, biased against the Conservative Party? Nevah! Hopefully, some of the female:male ratio will change in the election next month. 
 
 PetiteGal at 03:34 PM on 09/19/08 Reply by Email * 
@Dauphine: Though we DID have a female PM...she lasted oh, three months...and she wasn't elected in by her riding in an election or by-election, just by party delegates when Brian Mulroney resigned.
 
My question is this: Are women just not interested in running for parties that have a better chance of forming the government or are they not getting enough sigs to become candidates? I don't know if it's my all girls' school background or what, but I've always been taught that I could become anything I want, and this includes doing things that are traditionally male. 
 
 katemcd81 at 03:51 PM on 09/19/08 Reply by Email * 
Ireland is still a strange one: two female presidents, quite a few female politicans, but we've only just made divorce legal and women still have to scurry over to the UK to get an abortion. We're still very old fashioned really. I really cant imagine it ever being introduced in this country.I think we're lot like Spain, we share a lot of Catholic...crap. 
 
 Haystacks at 04:26 PM on 09/19/08 Reply by Email * 
This info is surprising. If I live to usual life expectancy I could live to see this happen. I expected this to happen in my great granddaughters life time. 
 
 Vivien Smith-Smythe-Smith at 04:44 PM on 09/19/08 Reply by Email * 
For a wee while a couple of years ago (2005-2006?), New Zealand had this unique situation where all the most senior positions of power were women; the Queen, Governor General, Prime Minister (in her third term!), Speaker of the House, and also the CEO of Telecom (which is one of our biggest companies).
 
Not bad, given that we gained suffrage, oh only 115 years ago! 
 
 OfficeMaxie at 09:57 PM on 09/19/08 Reply by Email * 
@PetiteGal: Specializing as a women's leadership corporate trainer, i feel qualified to answer "Are women just not interested...?"
 
Lots of women DO have great leadership skills and the desire to be leaders, but we put too much faith in the notion of a meritocracy: that our work ethic alone will be enough. Sadly, in a world where someone who acts the most confident is assumed to be most competent, women lose out on leadership opportunities.