Gender & Sexuality StWomen and Political Systems Worldwide Carrie N Baker and Marcela Rodrigues-Sherley

WOMEN AND POLITICAL SYSTEMS WORLDWIDE Carrie Baker and In March 1964 , two major events happened in the life of a Brazilian girl from her country experienced a coup tat that would lead to a military dictatorship . She also started high school . Central State High School was no regular high school it was the biggest hub for dent activism in the country and the place where would start her lifelong fight for racy . joined the underground , guerrilla activism that the military dictatorship . During a time when freedom of speech was nonexistent and organizing of any kind was , leftist activists these restrictions by organizing secret meetings , circulating clandestine bulletins , and taking over local radio stations to spread their message . Many activists caught military rule were jailed , tortured , and assassinated . In 1970 the military arrested for subversion , then jailed and tortured her for three years . Prison guards interrogated eff intensely for hours , trying to force her to reveal the names of other activists . They beat her with wooden paddles and wet ropes , and subjected her to electrical shocks . They used a method of torture called mu ale ( parrot perch in lish ) where political prisoners were hung from an iron bar by their legs and arms , often while naked and combined with electrical shocks . While more than four hundred of comrades disappeared , likely assassinated , she survived the dictatorship . After being released from jail , she moved to Porto , where she married and had her only daughter . She studied economics at university and started participating in the country process . She became the woman to be head of Porto Department of Finance and the first woman to be head of Rio Grande do Sul Department of Mines and Energy . introduced the first proposal of clean and sustainable energy to the state of Rio Grande do Sul . Later on , under President

308 WOMEN AND SYSTEMS WORLDWIDE da Silva , she became Brazil Minister of Mines and Energy , creating the Luz Para Todos ( light for all ) Program , which brought electricity to more than 11 million people living in rural areas of Brazil . After her success , she was named chief of staff . In 2010 , she succeeded and became Brazil first woman president . Her main political goal was to reduce poverty and unemployment . In 2014 , she was reelected . But in 2016 she was removed from office through a coup masked as an impeachment . The opposition accused her of corruption , but to this day she affirms that she has never committed any crime and has not broken the law or constitution . Since then , Brazil has been taken over by politicians whose leadership has rolled back years of policies under and . From armed struggle to the presidency , and from political prisoner to president , has spent her entire life for justice and continues to advocate for the protection of democracy . eff fought from both outside of government and from within it to advance democracy and social justice in her country . As a woman , she broke barriers , but she also experienced gender biases that contributed ultimately to toppling her from power . story illustrates many of the ideas we will discuss in this women have fought for democracy and struggled to gain political rights , how they still experience misogyny and sexual double standards , and how they are creative ways to tackle the challenges women regularly face in politics . Politic are the activities associated with the governance of a country or an organization , especially the debate or conflict among individuals , interest groups , or parties having or hoping to achieve power and leadership . People in power shape the distribution of resources in society , often favoring themselves and people like them . Powerful people often resist opening the doors to people traditionally excluded from power , fearing that to admit more people means they will lose power . are the formal state institutions that make up governments , levy taxes , pass laws , and decide how to allocate resources . The state adopts laws to encourage some behaviors and prohibit others , and enforces these laws through police and militaries . The state is central to shaping major social like the family , workplace , health care , and educational system . A democracy is a political system that ensures basic civil rights , valid elections , and an independent media . Most countries today are democracies , but they exist along a spectrum from fully free to partly free . The independent watchdog organization Freedom House releases an annual Freedom in tbe report , which tracks the political and social conditions citizens face in countries and territories across the world . They calculate a score for each country by considering various factors and then assigning a number out of 100 , ranking each country free , partly free , or not Whereas democratization increased during and right after the Cold War , we are now seeing the rollback of democratic values and equal voting rights across the world . Between 2005 and 2018 , the share of not free countries rose from 23 to 25 percent ,

WOMEN AND SYSTEMS WORLDWIDE i 309 while the share of free countries declined from 46 to 42 percent . The United States is considered free with a score of 86 , but it ranks behind of the free countries that scored up to 100 ( 2020 ) HOW DOES THE UNITED STATES MATCH UP ?

After declining by eight points in Io US has fallen below its traditional democratic peers . AUSTRALIA DENMARK FRANCE GERMANY SWITZERLAND KINGDOM This chart shows the countries that have within points of the United States in year have a population on or more Us AUSTRIA I CHILE Ii IRELAND NEW ZEALAND PORTUGAL RE Sum pow , GREECE HUNGARY Us I PANAMA , ROMAN IA scum KOREA 63 Note . Freedom in the World aggregate scores are on a scale from a to Inc , where is least free and ice IS most free . The United States ranking among free countries dropped between 2009 and 2019 . Source ( 2020 , Some countries are not do not have elections and are run by a single ruler called a monarch ( and ) Other countries have elections , but voters have little or no real choice ( Russia ) An is a form of government in which the ruling power belongs to a few people , a is a government controlled by the wealthy , and an is a government in which one son has all the power . Men have traditionally dominated politics and governments in many countries and have limited women access to political power . As democracies formed , men often blocked women from voting and barred them from holding public office , while at the same time subjecting them to the laws over which women had no sa . Male dominance was with ies that associated women with the here of home and , with men associated with the world of and ness . Men are often seen as strong leaders , whereas women are portrayed as weak , domestic , uninterested in politics , for leadership . Women of color , women , transgender women , and young women are even more strongly sidelined . People in power have used these stories to justify women exclusion from political power and create barriers to women access to political leadership , especially for

310 WOMEN AND POLITICAL SYSTEMS ) women of color . As women have sought a larger role in political institutions , they have had to challenge these old stories and tell new ones about women capacity for leadership and their right to fully pate in the governance of society . Oh , by Williams In 1887 , Dora Salter was living with her husband and her four young children in the town of , Kansas . Earlier that year , Kansas was one of the first states to grant women the right to vote in certain local elections , including the town of . As a member ofan established Quaker family , Dora was a member of the local temperance ( league . With the recently granted right to vote , the league members made enforcement of prohibition a prime issue ofthe upcoming city election . They selected a ticket candidates whom they ered to be worthy of the town . A group of local townsmen resented the intrusion into local politics of women and the temperance league . They decided to teach the league a lesson by drawing up a nearly identical slate of candidates , substituting Dora name as the mayoral candidate . They assumed that only women would vote for the slate they thought if Dora got just the twenty female votes , the league would be exposed as marginal and idiotic and therefore unlikely to involve itself in future politics . Because candidates did not have to file before election day , the slate was registered as a surprise , and lots were printed with Dora name on them . On the morning of the election , officials were shocked to see her name on the ballot and sent a delegation to ask ifshe would accept the office . She agreed to do so . Dora husband was angered when he discovered Dora name on the ballot . He was even more perturbed when he found that his wife had consented to serve . But she was undeterred . The lesson , and the townspeople of voted for Dora in such numbers that she received a majority , making her the woman mayor in the United States . When the results were known , Dora husband quickly adjusted to being the husband of the mayor . Dora term as mayor was largely uneventful , although it was recognized nationally and nationally with both praise and ridicule . During that year of service , Mayor Salter gave birth to her fifth child . the fall of 1887 , Dora was invited to speak at the Kansas Women Equal Suffrage Association . Appearing on the platform with the mayor were Susan Anthony , Rachael Foster Avery , the

WOMEN AND SYSTEMS ) I 311 Rev . Anna Shaw , and Henry , husband of Lucy Stone . When Susan Anthony met Dora , she exclaimed , Why , you look just like any other woman , don you ?

Dora never pursued another political office and soon after moved with her family to Oklahoma . She lived to the age of 101 , having been witness to a multitude of changes in the American political scene . Despite these , women have always participated in and political systems in both mal or informal ways , both from within those systems and from the outside . Beginning in the century , women waged campaigns across the globe for the right to vote and run for political . After years of for their rights , women can now vote and run for political office in most countries , but they are still underrepresented in legislatures worldwide . In addition to participation in formal political systems , women have participated in informal politics through organizing their communities and participating in social movements . Even before women won the right to vote in many countries , they formed organizations , raised money , spoke out on issues of importance to them , and had on public opinion and policy . For centuries , women have organized both within nations and to improve their lives and communities . For ple , in the century , women participated in and sometimes led movements to free people in the Global South from European domination . Like , women have led ings to free their countries from the grips of dictators . In the early century , women played a critical role in the Arab Spring , a series of antigovernment protests against autocratic rulers that spread across much of the Arab world . These are just a few of many examples of how women have led social and political change . This chapter explores women participation in formal political systems and informal politics . The part of the chapter focuses on formal political systems in democracies , including citizenship and voting , running for and winning political , obstacles to representation , and strategies women have used to overcome these obstacles . This part then addresses how women rule once they achieve political power . Do female presidents behave differently than male presidents ?

What about legislators ?

What is the impact of women in elective on political outcomes ?

How has women participation in political systems those systems ?

The second part of the chapter will explore how women outside of positions of formal political power have acted to established power systems , for their rights , and create social change .

312 I WOMEN AND SYSTEMS WORLDWIDE Part I . Women in State Politics Being a citizen of a particular country is a membership status that legally recognizes an individual as a national of such country . Citizenship is usually granted by birth or by descent line ( those born in the United States or those born abroad to US citizen parents ) though many countries allow people to become citizens through a naturalization process . Citizenship comes with a range of duties and rights . Some duties include paying taxes and following the law , while some rights include freedom of speech and political . Historically , citizenship has been denied on the basis of gender , race , ethnicity , and religion . In the United States , the Naturalization Act of 1790 a citizen as a free white person of good character , which excluded those of African , Asian , Latin American , and Native ancestry . Today , gender , race , ethnicity , and religion are not explicit of one eligibility to citizenship however , and racist that disfavor women and people of color permeate the naturalization process . For example , men are more likely to be primary visa holders based on employment , while women are more likely to be admitted as dependent spouses . Some countries still have explicit in citizenship law . India Citizenship Amendment Bill , passed by the Indian Parliament in 2019 , allows immigrants from certain countries to apply for Indian citizenship but excludes Muslims .

WOMEN AND SYSTEMS ) I 313 The right to vote is a central right of citizenship . As democracies formed across the world in the eighteenth and nineteenth , governments limited voting rights , often to male property owners . Movements to expand voting rights developed in many countries , including women suffrage movements , to for the right to vote . New Zealand was the first country to enfranchise women in 1893 . The United States adopted the Nineteenth Amendment to the US Constitution in 1920 . Not until 2005 could women in Kuwait vote . Even after formal barriers based on sex were removed , however , women still faced many other barriers based on their race , ity , citizenship , language , and incarceration status . In South Africa , white women won the right to vote in 1930 , but Black South African women could not vote until 1994 , in the eral election after the fall of the apartheid system . In the United States , despite passage of the Nineteenth Amendment , Native American women did not gain citizenship until the Snyder Act in 1924 and then had to for the vote state by state . Federal icy barred immigrants of Asian descent from US citizenship and voting until 1952 . Poll taxes , literacy tests , and violence blocked Europe , regions were In women suffrage ' In Tonal 700 194 Sun , Middle North mo mane Asa Panic PEW When women won the right to vote by geographic region . Source Schaeffer ( 2020 ) many African American women from voting until Congress passed the Voting Rights Act in 1965 . But in 2013 , in Shelby County Holder , the US Supreme Court struck down Section of the Voting Rights Act , which requires certain states and local with histories of race discrimination to obtain federal reclearance before im an chan es to their laws or . As a result , voter su in of voter re restrictions , voter intimidation , and strict voter tion increased si in recent ears . Re in some states have ur ed African Americans from the voting rolls , closed polling locations in Black communities , and lawsuits to block counting votes . The erosion of voting rights is not unique to the United States . For example , during Israel general in 2019 , activists installed hidden cameras in polling stations in Arab communities in order to intimidate Arab citizens and prevent them from voting ( and 2019 ) In the lack of polling stations prevent women from voting owing to social and norms that dictate the way men and women are allowed to interact in public . Women who vote are nonetheless often harassed and chastised , which has resulted in Pakistan having one of the lowest rates of women voting turnout worldwide ( 2016 )

314 i WOMEN AND POLITICAL SYSTEMS system can also women participation in elections . Most voting systems are voluntary , but some are compulsory , requiring all citizens to vote . Canada and Spain , for instance , are among the 172 countries in the world that have voluntary voting laws . In these countries , people are not required to vote and participate in electoral processes . As a result , those who vote may not be a representative sample of the country population . Meanwhile , Australia and Peru are among the 27 countries that enforce voting , also known as mandatory voting . Compulsory voting is a duty with which all citizens must comply , otherwise they may suffer penalties such as paying a or being denied access to public services . According to the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance ( IDEA ) most countries in Latin America have compulsory voting ( IDEA , Women in countries that enforce compulsory voting are more likely to vote , receive and seek information about elections , and participate in campaigns than women in countries where voting is voluntary ( and 2017 ) When the law requires all citizens to participate in electoral politics , information about elections becomes more accessible to all , including those whose ability to participate in the electoral process has been historically denied . Thus the gender gap in voter participation and overall engagement in electoral politics is narrower in countries that enforce compulsory voting versus countries that hold voting laws . Women voting in a village in India Compulsory voting has similar effects on other historically disadvantaged populations . The gaps between and as well as between and hi eo are also narrower in countries that have compulsory voting laws than in countries with voluntary voting ( Fowler 2013 ) But those who oppose compulsory voting argue that the higher turnout does not translate into a more representative vote because of and electoral fraud ( and 2019 )

WOMEN AND SYSTEMS WORLDWIDE 315 Women voting rate have increased in many countries across the world over the past several decades . In India , for example , the number of women voting has increased compared to men . Female voters for the first time outnumbered male voters in several states in India in the 2014 national elections ( 2019 ) In the United States , women now comprise the majority of voters , casting close to 10 lion more votes than men in the 2016 elections . That year , according to the Center for American Women and Politics ( million women voted , whereas only million men voted ( 2019 ) Women also vote at higher rates than men 63 percent of women who were eligible to vote cast their ballots in the 2016 election , whereas 59 percent of men did , reports the Pew Research Center . These differential voting rates persist across racial groups ( 2020 ) But in other areas of the world , women rates of voting lag behind men . Research on women voting participation in several Africa countries , for example , shows that women were only about as likely to vote as men , with the gender gap in voting varying widely across countries and time ( and 2014 ) Factors that discourage women from voting include household responsibilities , lack of education , lack of documentation , and health conditions like nancy . Women also experience higher rates of poverty and unemployment , which affect their abilities to afford transportation to registration and voting centers ( ACE Electoral College Network 2013 ) The United Nations ( UN ) reports that women experience violence throughout the electoral process , including at home and during civic engagement activities , where they may be punished for expressing their political choices or intimidated into voting against their convictions , including through family voting ( UN Women 2020 ) In many countries , women on average vote differently from phenomenon scholars describe as a gender gap , as the difference between the percentages of women and men who support a given . In democracies across the world , as women gained the right to vote , they tended historically to vote more conservatively than men , which political scientists have attributed to greater religiosity , but today that trend is reversed . In recent decades , women have increasingly shifted leftward politically in trial societies . Explanations for this shift include the increasing divorce rate , women increasing tion in the paid labor force , the persistent gender wage gap , and the fact that women are much more likely than men to be single parents caring for children . The resulting vulnerabilities make women more likely than men to depend on and value social programs supported by political parties . Women are also more likely than men to work in government jobs as social workers and teachers , which explains their greater support for government social programs . The gender gap is particularly evident in attitudes toward certain public policy issues . For example , women are more likely than men to prefer an active role for the government in providing a social safety net for those in need , including food assistance , health insurance , and welfare ( Political Parity , Women are also more likely than men to support regulations to protect the environment and laws that protect

316 WOMEN AND SYSTEMS WORLDWIDE gay men and lesbians from discrimination . In contrast , women are less likely than men to support interventions and gun rights ( 2020 ) Political scientist Jennifer explains , Ideas about appropriate gender roles mean that women and men have different lived experiences , which shape women awareness of problems and their preferences for solving them . For instance , women are more likely than men to perform caretaking raising both historically and today they are more likely than men to want stronger healthcare , housing , education , childcare and grams , These differences shape the women vote ( In the United States , party affiliation and attitudes on political issues first emerged in the early , when the country took a turn with the election of Ronald Reagan ( Carroll and Fox 2018 ) These gender gaps have grown steadily since then . Today , women are more likely than men to be Democratic than Republican , especially women of color ( 2020 ) Since first emerging in the 19805 , the gender gap in presidential voting has ranged from percent in 1992 to a high of 11 percent in 2016 ( In 2020 , 57 percent of women voted for , but only 45 percent of men did 42 cent of women voted for Trump , but 53 percent of men supported him . Women voted differently based on race 55 percent of white women voted for Trump , whereas 30 percent of and Asian American women did , and only percent of Black women supported Trump . Younger women were significantly more likely to vote for than older women overall ( Hall and Gal 2020 Yam 2020 ) More women than men voted for president in 2020

WOMEN AND SYSTEMS 317 Challenges to Voting Access in the United States by The US elections of 2020 had some ofthe highest voter turnout and lowest voter fraud in recent history . In response , 2021 began with many states introducing and passing harmful and restrictive voting laws . In most cases these restrictions affect and early voting , which were the two biggest factors in the record 2020 voter turnout . Some of the most restrictive proposals were made in Georgia . Suggested sures include allowing people to challenge others about their voting and requiring more documents for voting . These types of laws are especially harmful to people that struggle to obtain , including the poor , elderly , and people of color . Find an American Civil Liberties Union event near you , and bring a ' Stay up to date on local voting policies in your area . Write letters , call , or email your to make our voice heard on comin bills or im Votes . Share knowledge and facts on voting issues to raise awareness and organize protests to harmful or restrictive voting ' Volunteer for local candidates that support equal voting ' Organize an informational event for your local community to educate people on local voting laws , upcoming legislation , and voting procedures to help people know their rights and be informed . Research has revealed similar patterns in other areas of the world . Whereas European women tended to vote more for conservative parties in the , in most countries they are now more likely to support parties . As in the United States , the driving force behind the emergence of a modern gender gap in Europe is increased levels of female labor participation ( 2009 ) Research shows that these terns also hold true for Latin America . But there is no evidence that economic development provides an impetus for more equal levels of participation . Instead , the most important contextual factors are civil and women presence among the visible political elite ( and 2009 ) In African countries , women participation in the labor indicator of economic the gender gap in the of infrastructure investment and access to clean water , while social

318 I WOMEN AND SYSTEMS WORLDWIDE widens the gap on prioritizing infrastructure investment ( and Robinson 2016 ) In addition to voting , women engage in other forms of electoral activity , such as making to campaigns , writing letters to elected representatives , engaging in campaign work , and joining political organizations . In many countries , women have formed their own organizations to pressure governments to protect women rights and increase sex equality , such as the Democratic Women Federation , formed in 1949 ( and 2001 ) and the All India Women Association , established in 1981 ( Armstrong 2015 ) In Japan , women mobilized gender ideologies to create the Club and organize as housewives to the political process ( Hunter 1993 ) Political participation can vary according to race and class , however . In the United States , for example , white and Asian American women are much more likely to contact government of ?

or give money to political campaigns than Black and Latina women , although Black women attend rallies at similar levels as white and Asian women . These differences in political participation may result from different levels of education and income as well as different of being contacted by a ical party ( Brown 2014 Evans 2016 2020 ) Keeping Up on What the Government Is Doing by Shannon Political involvement often ebbs and wanes over the course of a lifetime . A few people are passionate and always involved , while many just move through life either believing in or fearing their own government . Because we see a wide breadth of government forms across the world and globalization has made access appear closer than ever before , more people are involved in activism , volunteering , and even running for . The Arab Spring movement rolled across nations , the Women March inspired hundreds of global marches , and Black Lives Matter launched renewed focus on the rights of all people globally . Whatever course you take , it is always good to know your responsibilities and privileges as a citizen , your legal rights , and the responsibilities that each government office expects of the person doing its work . Access to the Internet has made it easier to stay abreast of current government work . From large with access to information to smaller Websites , a variety of online sources abound . As always , 50 you know if you are reading facts or merely opinions . Find out if writers are experts or wannabes . Freedom is precious . We all have a voice , and we can all be involved .

WOMEN AND SYSTEMS WORLDWIDE 319 Research has shown , however , that women have less participation in these activities as well as political interest and knowledge . Political participation takes access to resources , information , skills , and time . Scholars attribute these gender differences in political participation to traditional gender norms and as well as women lower levels of resources ( For example , women give less money on average to political campaigns than men in part because of the gender wage gap and wealth gap women earn less than men on average and have less wealth than men . Women also have less leisure time than men because women disproportionately do unpaid labor in the home , especially caring for children . These patterns hold true across the world ( and 2009 , and 2014 ) Nevertheless , as women make progress in gaining equality , their political participation is increasing . Women Running for and Political In most areas of the world , women have made slow but steady progress in winning elections to public office as heads of state , members of legislatures , and judges at the national , state , and local levels of government . UN Women ( 2020 ) maintains a map that tracks the number of women in ministerial positions and by country worldwide . While women have ruled as since ancient times , the world first democratically elected female prime ter was , who was elected by the parliament of , now Sri , in 1960 . The first woman to serve as president of a country was Isabel Martinez de of Argentina , who as vice president succeeded her husband to the presidency in 1974 after his death . The first woman elected by popular vote as president of a country was of Iceland , who won the 1980 presidential election . President Ellen Johnson leaf became the first president of an African nation in 2006 . In 2014 , Latin America set a record for having four female presidents at the same of Chile , Cristina Fernandez de of Argentina , Laura Chinchilla of Costa , and of Brazil ( see Box ) The United States has never had a woman president .

320 i WOMEN AND POLiTiCAL SYSTEMS WORLDWIDE Prime Ministers of by Khan For much ofthe time since achieved independence , a woman has been prime minister and Sheikh have each taken multiple turns at leadership . entered in 1981 after her husband , was assassinated . In 1991 , she became woman . Her term was marked by a cyclone , whose aftermath hampered her plans for the country economic development . Years later , she served a second term . Between her two terms , Sheikh served her stint as . She is the daughter of president and Father of the Nation Sheikh . She holds the record for of . In her decade or more in power , each politician has found herself in trouble . In 2018 , was convicted of embezzling from orphanage trusts while she was ( she claims the charges were by opposing parties ) Sheikh was criticized for her handling of violence against and political activists in , including lesbian , gay , bisexual , trans , queer , or intersex plus ( people , atheists , promoters of secular government , and opponents of her political party . In 2018 , passed the Digital Security Act , which has been widely denounced for giving the too much power to arrest dissenters . In 2020 , at least a dozen were arrested under this act for their social media posts . One of them , writer Ahmed , died in prison in February 2021 . Four Latin American Women Presidents Latin America set a record in 2014 for having four Female presidents at the same Argentina , Brazil , Chile , and Costa . Michelle was the woman to be elected president of Chile , first from 2006 to 2010 and then from 2014 to 2018 . survived detention and torture under the regime but was later nominated minister of health under President Ricardo and ran For president with the Sociality Party of Chile in 2005 . Cristina Fernandez de was the democratically elected female president of Argentina , serving two consecutive terms from 2007 to 2015 , succeeding her husband Ne stor . Laura Chinchilla was the woman elected president of Costa . As part ofthe ( National Liberation Party ) she was

WOMEN AND POLITICAL SYSTEMS WORLDWIDE I 321 elected vice president of Costa from 2006 to 2008 and then president of Costa from 2010 to 2014 . whose story began this chapter , was the first female president of Brazil , serving from 2011 to 2016 . As of November 2019 , countries have had female bead ( meaning ceremonial leaders of a country such as Queen Elizabeth in the United Kingdom ) whereas 29 out of 194 countries across the world have had female head ( people who run a nation government ) In some cases , mainly in presidential systems ( like in the United States ) there is only one leader who is both the leader and the head of the government . The number of women in legislatures has increased in recent decades , but female representation varies widely across countries of the world and is stubbornly resistant to increases in many places . was the first country to achieve gender parity in their national parliament , which today is percent women . In the United States , however , women are only percent of , according to the Center for American Women and Politics . While in 2018 women ran for public office and won in record , the United States still lags other countries across the world in women political in national legislatures . Things are not much better in state legislatures , where women hold only percent of seats . US women still face high barriers to winning public , including fundraising , discrimination , stereotyping , and harassment . Transgender women have recently made progress in ning public in the United States . For example , in 2017 , became the first openly gender woman to win and hold a seat in a US state legislature ( see ) In 2020 , Sarah McBride from Delaware became the first transgender woman to win a seat in the US Senate . Born in , Virginia , started her career as a journalist after receiving a bachelor degree in journalism from Bonaventure University . She worked professionally as a lead reporter of the , Time and news editor of the Seminal for more than ten years before running for public office . In 2017 , as part of the Democratic Party , defeated incumbent Republican Robert Marshall and was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates , representing District 13 . Robert Marshall ,

322 WOMEN AND POLITICAL SYSTEMS ) a Republican with views , had introduced 1612 ( the Physical Privacy Act ) earlier that year . The bill , also known as a bathroom bill , would force those in Virginia to use the restroom that matches their sex assigned at birth , rather than their gender identity . During the campaign , Marshall referred to using masculine pronouns and refused to debate her , yet she won the race and made history as the first transgender woman elected to and seated in a US state legislature . As a delegate , has been recognized for her work in infrastructure and public transportation in Virginia District 13 . Two successful bills she has include 1049 , which prohibits ing , employment , banking , insurance , and public accommodation discrimination on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation , and 5052 , which recognizes as a legal holiday . She also voted in favor of the successful of the Equal Rights Amendment , making Virginia the eighth and state required to ratify the ERA . Across the world , the average share of women in national legislatures is currently percent , a slow increase from percent in 1995 . The percentage of women in national legislatures varies by region . As of October 2020 , the average share of women in national legislatures were Americas , 32 cent Europe , 301 percent African , percent Asia , percent , percent and Middle East and North Africa , percent . In Nordic countries , women comprise more than 40 cent of national parliaments ( Union 2020 ) Globally , as of February 2019 , there are nations where women account for less than 10 percent of in single or lower houses , including three chambers with no women at all . Women make up half or more of national in just three countries Bolivia , Cuba , and ( Geiger , and 2019 UN Women 2021 ) And women representation is not an inevitable march forward . In countries of the former Soviet Union , women representation actually decreased after the end of the Cold War , dropping from 27 cent in 1985 to percent in 1995 ( Paxton , and Hughes 2007 ) Women still have a long way to go to win equal representation in national legislatures across the world .

WOMEN AND SYSTEMS WORLDWIDE 323 Women representatives in national legislatures in 2021 . Data for single or lower house . Countries indicated as having candidate quotas or reserved seats might also have political party quotas . Source current data at More than half of legislators are women Women representation on courts has also increased in recent decades , although it still lags far behind men representation . In the United States , women representation in law school classes reached 50 cent in the , but women still make up only about of federal court judges and of state court judges . Among all sitting federal judges , only women of color . Justice Sandra Day Connor was the first woman to serve on the US Supreme Court , appointed in 1980 ( National Association of Women Judges , Root 2019 ) While state judges are often elected by popular vote , federal judges are appointed by the president and by the Senate . Women exclusion from the networks that judicial appointments ( sometimes called old boys clubs ) as well as their formal and informal selection processes are factors in women

324 i WOMEN AND POLiTiCAL SYSTEMS ) tion on the federal bench . Globally , women account for about a quarter of all judges , varying by region . In central and Eastern Europe and central Asia , women are about half of the judiciary , but in South Asia , women comprise less than 10 percent of judges ( UN Women 2011 , 60 ) The International Association of formed in 1991 to promote and empower women judges . Obstacles to Achieving Representation in Government Women face many obstacles to achieving equal representation in governments across the world . ally in many cultures , political leadership has been associated with men and traits considered masculine , such as aggression , competitiveness , dominance , and decisiveness . According to scholar Miguel , There a stereotype that women are soft and might not be able to deal with a security crisis or a war , for example . But if they re too aggressive or try to show too much masculinity , they might be accused of not being nice or feminine enough . It a difficult line for women to walk when it comes to ing people whichever direction they take , they re likely to run into problems ( Carlin , and Love 2020 ) This makes it difficult for women to successfully run for public office . Furthermore , der bias intersects with other systems of inequality and privilege , including racism , classism , homophobia , and , to create even higher barriers for women in politics . Ethnic minority women , for example , face greater prejudices than either white women or ethnic minority men because of the sections of gender and race biases ( and 2016 ) These cultural attitudes people perceptions of potential candidates and their voting behavior . attitudes limit women access to the education , time , and resources important to fully running for political office . Girls often have less access to literacy and education than boys , and girls political aspirations are often discouraged . Gender stereotypes and expectations that women should be responsible for family and households often make it difficult for women to run for and hold political office . Women also have less access than men to resources that they need to run for political office . This is especially true for marginalized women . Women are often excluded or marginalized from social networks required for winning political office . are the major pathway to elected office across the world , but they are often dominated by men , and women struggle to gain access and win the support of political parties . Women have had some success running as independents , however , particularly in the Middle East . In countries such as Egypt , Jordan , and , where there is an absence of political parties or where existing parties are unwilling to back women , some women have successfully run for national office as independents ( 2020 borne 2020 ) Electoral system can affect women success in winning public office . Plurality or majority voting systems put women at a disadvantage for winning public office , whereas proportional representation systems

WOMEN AND POLITICAL SYSTEMS ) 325 ate more opportunities for women . A ty voting is where each voter is allowed to vote for only one candidate , and the candidate who wins the most a majority or a elected . A system is where voters select parties instead of individual , and seats are distributed to each party in proportion to the number of votes the party receives . New Zealand ( has been particularly successful in diversifying representation . The system gives each citizen two votes , one for a party and one for a candidate . The party vote determines how many seats in parliament each party gets . The candidate vote selects who the electorate in each district . Every candidate who wins an election receives a seat in parliament , and the remaining seats are distributed based on the party votes and from the party candidate lists ( New Zealand Electoral Commission , 2020 ) Research shows that proportional representation result in an percent greater number of women being elected to office , because parties want to put forward a slate of candidates to reach a wider range of voters ( 1999 Norris 2004 ) The electoral college system for electing US presidents is neither a majority voting system nor a proportional representation system but a vestige of the country history of slavery ( 2016 ) In addition to political and electoral systems , media coverage can have a impact on women success in running for political . A free press is essential to democracy because most people receive political information through the , broadcast television , magazines , and online platforms . The media public perceptions and attitudes of political dates . Media portrayals of women running for political office can have a major impact on the likelihood they will be elected . Although the media claims objectivity , most media platforms express gender bias in their language and overall portrayals of women running for . For example , the media often focuses on women families and domestic lives but not on men ( see Box ) Furthermore , the media gives less airtime for female candidates to discuss their political goals and allows more interruptions of female by opponents and . Women often do not have the resources to counter these biases through paid advertising ( Van der Pas and 2020 ) Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris Two women who have been in the spotlight in American politics and constantly suffer from media coverage are Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris . In 2016 , Clinton became the first woman for president by a major party in the history of the United States . Before that , she served in the US Senate for two terms and was secretary . Harris was the Black woman district attorney of San

326 I WOMEN AND SYSTEMS Francisco , the Black woman attorney general of California , was elected to the US Senate in 2017 , and the first Black woman to be elected vice president of the United States . Both women have been often questioned on their appearance and personal lives by the press and the public . Clinton becoming a grandmother , for instance , was enough reason for the media to question her ability to be president . News published the headline Hillary Clinton ?

and Time published the headline The Pros and Cons of President No one has ever Donald Trump grandfather status as a sign of unfitness for office . Trump himself publicly said of Clinton , I just don think she has a presidential look , and you need a presidential Trump also attacked Harris , calling her totally unlikeable and a Harris experiences not only sexism but also racism . From mispronouncing her name to questioning her , commentators have her , treating her as less than human . Aware of the sexist media , Clinton once joked that all she needed to get news coverage was to change her hair . Gender bias in the media affects the visual portrayals of women . ug ) publishes a was in the . A For instance , when Brianna Wu ran for Congress to represent the is . They . ul my wearing MAN pick ans or me weaving a and have Han . eighth district of Massachusetts in 2018 , she went on Twitter to am a mum shoot with men wearing a dress and heels a week ago call out the sexism in the Boston Globe coverage of her race . She wrote , Angry . published a guide to the election . They choose pictures of my opponents wearing suits . They pick one of me from where I wearing a and have Primary guide The Boston Globe bright anime hair . I literally did a photo shoot with them wearing a dress and heels a week The Boston Globe portrayed Wu as Brianna Wu tweet calling out the less professional and less of a leader than her male counterparts . Boston for Sexism Female politicians are also sometimes sexualized by the media . For example , the United Kingdom Mali published an article titled Weapons of Mass Distraction German Chancellor Angela Shows Off Plunging Neckline after attended an opera gala with a dress that showed her cleavage . This headline sexualized , potentially undermining of her for political leadership . These portrayals are on social media , where anyone with an Internet connection can express their sexist views . The to women engagement in electoral politics are violence and harassment ( 2020 , 2021 ) In the United States , domestic extremists plotted to kidnap Michigan Gretchen in October 2020 , and then on January , 2021 , violent mobs invaded the US Capitol building , hunting for House Speaker Nancy ( among others ) invading her , and

WOMEN AND SYSTEMS 327 threatening her ( 2021 ) Research indicates that violence prevents many women from running for office and from carrying out their duties once elected ( UN Women 2020 , 23 ) ing to scholar Mona Lena , Violence against Women in politics takes many forms physical , psychological , sexual , economic , and otic . Examples violence include the assassination politician Franco in 2018 and the arrest and ongoing torture ofwomen rights activists in Saudi Arabia ( see ) Online abuse is a common form of psychological violence , involving threats and trolling to force women to leave or reduce their social media engagement . Online attacks often disproportionately target younger women and Women , like Diane Abbott , the first Black woman elected to the British parliament . 2020 ) Men also target women in public office for verbal abuse and harassment ( see Box ) Research on violence against women in politics in India , Nepal , and Pakistan found that men use violence to reinforce social and political structures by targeting women who challenge patriarchal political norms ( UN Women Centre for Social Research 2014 ) A Voice Both Clear and Strong by Sarah Baum Ida . Wells was born July 16 , 1862 , into slavery during the Civil War in Mississippi . She and her family were freed by the Emancipation Proclamation , and her parents raised her to value education . At the age of 16 , she lost her parents and her youngest brother to the 1878 Yellow Fever outbreak , leaving her to care for her remaining siblings . She moved the family to Memphis and took a job as an educator to port them . At the same time , she founded a newspaper and focused her personal journalism on Southern racial segregation and the inequality that went with it . When she published a pamphlet speaking out against lynching , a white mob stormed her office and burned her press down . Because of ongoing threats , she was forced to move to Chicago , where she spoke out against the Columbian Exposition for its depiction Americans . Wells was easily the most famous woman of color in America during her day , speaking out against racial injustice as well as for Women rights . She became a founder of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and traveled extensively both nationally and internationally to shine light on the conditions of women and people of color in America . Her voice rang out true and strong whether in the spoken word or through her writings . Never silenced and always on the side of what was right , Ida . Wells continued her lifetime of activism until her death in 1931 at the age of 68 , but her words and her voice live on eternally .

328 i WOMEN AND POLITICAL SYSTEMS ) The Assassination of Franco in Brazil Franco was an woman elected to the City Council of Rio de 2017 . Franco was a Black woman from one of the poorest slums in Brazil who was married to another woman and whose campaign was all about human rights and demilitarization of Rio police . Her tion was a threat to those who supported the status quo in Brazil . On March 14 , 2018 , Franco was brutally assassinated . The investigation of her assassination was incredibly mishandled , and up to this day , there are no conclusive answers as to who assassinated her or why . Her death sparked an outcry in Brazil and the world , and led to more Black Brazilian women running for political . In addition , in 2020 , Franco widow , Monica , successfully ran for a City Council seat , ensuring that the legacy Franco created lives on . Alexandria Response to Ted Abuse Congressman Ted ( accosted and verbally assaulted Congresswoman Alexandria Cortez ( York ) in broad daylight on the steps of the US Capitol , calling her a fucking Several people witnessed the exchange , including a reporter from The Hill , Congressman Roger Williams ( who accompanied , and an adviser who accompanied . also called disgusting and out of her freaking mind , referring to recent statements about the spike in crime rates in New York City being connected to instability due to the pandemic . A few days later , addressed his behavior on the House . Instead of acknowledging the and aggressive nature of his speech toward , denied the . He blamed the press for attributing words to him that he had never spoken . was not even able to say name . He only addressed her as his colleague from New He invoked the and classic trope , often used by men when accused of disrespecting or abusing women , as if having women in their lives excuses them for hurting other women . He then ended his speech by saying , I can not apologize for my passion , showing us once again that men are able to assault women , call it passion , and get away with it . Later that week , also on the of the House of Representatives , addressed behavior and responded to his . She stated that she is familiar with this type of language , as

WOMEN AND POLITICAL SYSTEMS ) 329 are women everywhere . She brought up the trope in order to tear it apart . She made it clear that having wives and daughters does not excuse men from sexist attitudes and behavior . Women continue to face many barriers to winning public office , including inadequate political support from their parties , a lack of resources , gender stereotyping , violence , and patriarchal structures across societies . In response , women are developing a range of strategies to overcome these obstacles . Strategies to Increase Representation in Many governments and nongovernmental organizations are working to identify women interested in ning for office , providing training and support networks for women candidates , and creating projects that focus on ending sexism in politics . Some seek to create systems to ensure that women are equally in party leadership positions and committees . One strategy that has successfully increased women representation in political office in many countries across the world is the implementation of quota . Quota attempt to ensure that women a predetermined number of legislative seats . There are types of quotas reserved seats , party quotas , and legislative quotas . A reserved seat quota system is where a percentage of the political positions is reserved for women , usually 20 to 30 percent . Party quota are policies to increase the number of women candidates . Lastly , quota mean that the government requires parties to nominate a certain percentage of women . From 1995 to 2005 alone , 55 countries adopted gender quotas , and today 130 countries have at least some kind of quota in their electoral processes . As a result , the number of women elected in these countries has increased dramatically ( 2020 )

330 WOMEN AND POLITICAL SYSTEMS ) Reserved seals , i Countries with gender quotas in 2021 . Data for single or lower house . Source current data at Quota systems do not always produce equal representation of men and women in political office , however . In countries with gender quotas the average share of women in public office is percent , lower than the 50 percent that people would expect in an egalitarian society ( IDEA , One reason is that in some countries , quotas are voluntary and up to political parties to enforce . Research in pore , South Korea , and showed that quotas brought only slow and uneven progress and that their success was dependent on the degree of party system institutionalization , electoral competitiveness , legal enforcement , and attitudes toward women ( Tan 2016 ) In addition , efforts to incorporate women into political systems often do not account for the diversity among women . Gender quotas tend to incorporate only women from the majority group unless they explicitly address race , ethnicity , or other marginalized identities . IDEA maintains a Gender Quotas Database with information about quota across the world and strategies for implementing them . In addition to quota systems , there are organizations and support networks that aim to increase the number of women who are in public office . In the United States , the Women Campaign Fund , founded in 1974 , is a bipartisan organization that strives to elect women of all political ideologies and ethnicities . Emerge America recruits , trains , and connects Democratic women to networks and resources that will best prepare them to run for political office . Emily List raises money to support female candidates . The name is an acronym for Early Money Is Like Yeast , it makes the dough rise ) The Victory Institute promotes political candidates who are lesbian , gay , bisexual , trans , queer , or sex ( The National Women Political Caucus , founded in 1971 , helps elect progressive , choice women to office . She Should Run , founded in 2011 , has inspired more than women to run for since the 2016 election and has also launched an initiative called , which strives to get women to run for office by 2030 . The organization Represent Women advocates for a fairer and more representative electoral system in the United States .

WOMEN AND SYSTEMS ) I 331 UN Women supports women political participation and leadership in many countries around the world . They provide training for women political candidates to help build their capacities , and they offer voter and civic education and sensitization campaigns on gender equality . UN Women also backs gender ity advocates in calling on political parties , governments , and others to do their part in empowering women . For example , in Kenya 2013 elections , UN Women provided training to nearly nine hundred female candidates in all counties and ran a Campaign for Women in Leadership to encourage voters to vote for women . As a result , the number of women legislators rose above 20 percent , more than double compared to the previous elections ( UN Women 2013 ) These numbers continued to rise in the 2017 elections ( National Democracy Institute 2018 ) In , UN Women and the UN Development Programme ( supported an active women parliamentary caucus , civil society groups , and the national gender unit to promote women . As a result , the country achieved 38 percent women legislators in 2012 , exceeding the quota mandated by law and achieving the highest proportion of female legislators in Asia ( UN Women 2013 ) In 2018 , two leading women and Sae ( organized an initiative called Promoting Participation of Women in Political ties , which raised women participation in the elections as voters , poll workers , and candidates . organized a live television debate program , Talks on Women Politics ( 2018 ) In response to the many obstacles women continue to face in running for public office , governments and nongovernmental organizations have adopted a number of strategies , including quota systems and grams to recruit , train , and support female candidates , and otherwise . These efforts are ing a difference , helping to increase the number of women in public office . The next section addresses the question of what happens when they get there . Women and What difference do women in leadership make ?

Are women leaders different from male leaders ?

Do they support different policies ?

Some evidence shows that women do lead differently than men . For example , in one study of the European Parliament , male and female legislators expressed similar concern for the , yet women were more likely to support environmental legislation than after controlling for political ideology and nationality ( and 2020 ) A different study suggests that in countries and at times where women make up a larger proportion of the legislature , social spending is greater , including spending on cash to families and social services aimed at lies ( 2011 ) On female presidents , a study by the Centre for Economic Policy Research and the World Economic Forum found that in 2020 , countries led by New Zealand and Germany Angela systematically and better comes because of their proactive and coordinated policy responses , such as locking down earlier ,

332 I WOMEN AND SYSTEMS WORLDWIDE ing in half as many deaths on average as those led by men ( and 2020 ) But are women more likely to advocate for gender equality ?

There are two forms of political representation and . Descriptive representation refers to the numbers of women who are elected to political worldwide ( relative to the number of women in the entire population ) while substantive representation refers to the impact women make once they hold political positions . Political scientists conduct research on whether there is a link between descriptive and substantive representation , whether one leads to the other , and whether having more women in office results in laws and policies that increase gender equality . The results are mixed . Some evidence shows that women leaders do lead to increased gender equality . For example , one study showed that female mayors in Brazil did not increase women numerical representation in the municipal executive bureaucracy , but they did contribute to the creation of bureaucracies with fewer gender , including increasing the average wages of women bureaucrats and decreasing the gender wage gap in the bureaucracy ( Funk , Silva , and 2019 ) Research in the United States has revealed that working mothers in Congress are more likely to introduce legislation that address issues to parents and children ( Bryant and 2018 ) Another recent study , however , found that more women in parliaments did not relate to the body responsiveness to women policy preferences . The study , which compared European countries , found that women policy preferences tend to be more represented in parliaments than those of men , but that this correlation was driven not by the share of female , but rather by levels of women voter turnout . In other words , who votes is more important than the number of women who hold office ( and 2019 ) Another important factor to keep in mind is that women often do not represent the interests of all women , but instead represent the interests of women who share similar backgrounds and experiences ( McCall and )

WOMEN AND SYSTEMS ) I 333 Some evidence suggests that the political context how women lead . In her recent research on Latin America , scholar Leslie found that formal and informal institutions , which are , in combination with Latin America recent crises of democracy , advantage men and women , not only the number of women elected to office , but also what they do once there , how much power they have , and how their presence and actions democracy and society more broadly ( 2018 , A study of Yemen found that women leaders who challenge the patriarchal structure are professionally and personally punished , which leads them to side with policies that sustain the status quo ( 2020 ) Research on presidents in Latin America and Asia found that gender stereotypes play a big role in mining public approval of elected officials . Corruption has virtually no effect on male presidents approval ratings but has a and substantial negative effect on public support for female presidents . Women are often considered morally superior to men , and thus more honest and trustworthy , so they tend to pay a higher price in public support when they re tied to claims of political corruption . A prime example is the case of , whose story began this chapter . She lost the presidency after her opposition accused her ( without evidence ) of corrupt behaviors that were common to her male sors but had never unseated them . As judges , women bring important experiences and perspective to their roles . Scholars have studied whether female judges perform differently than male judges . One area of research focuses on productivity . Research on gender differences in the judiciary in the United States has shown that female judges perform better than male judges . Judicial performance was rated based on the number of opinions , the number of citations to their opinions , and open disagreements ( with those from the same political party background ( a measure of judicial independence ) In the study , women more opinions , had greater numbers of citations , and were more independent than men ( Choi et al . 2011 ) Research in Brazil , however , does not show differences in the judicial productivity of males and females ( and 2019 ) Another area of research is whether female judges rule differently than men , particularly whether they are more feminist . Research in the United States has found that female judges are more likely to favor tiffs in sex discrimination cases than male judges ( 2005 Boyd , Epstein , and Martin 2010 ) Research on judges in China shows that female judges are more likely than male judges to employ mediation as a preferred dispute resolution method to facilitate reconciliation between the parties and to seek civil for victims ( Wei 2020 ) A study in Egypt found that female judges may help make the structure of judicial work more inclusive and less confrontational , depending on the institutional context . Female judges were less hierarchical than male judges , but they did not display more sympathy toward women in divorce cases ( 2017 ) Research on the European Court of Human Rights has shown that female

334 WOMEN AND SYSTEMS judges are overall more likely to violations , regardless of the gender of applicants . This is especially true of cases involving physical integrity rights violations , such as torture ( Voeten 2020 ) Increasing the number of women in political office is a step toward gender equality but must be paired with structural changes within governments and the active participation of women rights activists and nongovernmental organizations . Research suggests that the best ways to achieve gender equality are through gender mainstreaming and institutionalization . Gender is when governments consider how every policy has underlying assumptions and then address women interests directly in laws and public policies ( 2005 ) is when governments create women ministries or policy agencies to ensure that gender is incorporated into government programs and planning . Women movements are also a critical component of advancing women rights because they can provide information to government and legislators and pressure them to consider women issues . When women rights advocates communicate with government agencies , policy als are more effective at addressing the issues faced by women , reports scholar Laurel don . Activists can reframe issues , raise new ones , and offer alternatives to existing bureaucratic ways of thinking and doing ( 2002 ) argues that strong , autonomous women movements women voice inside government ( 2002 , 1162 ) The Gender Equality While women have gained some formal political power and made legislative gains over the past years , advances in gender equality have been slow and have in some cases stalled or rolled backward . In the United States , for example , despite Congress passing the Equal Pay Act in 1963 , a wage gap between men and women persists . Rates of violence against women persist at high levels around the world , and women sexual and reproductive rights are contracting in many countries . These on women rights have been fueled by populist movements that have many of the rights that women have gained in recent history . Around the world , forces have mobilized people in opposition to sexual and reproductive rights using the vague concept of gender The phrase was developed in the Vatican in the and popularized in Dale Leary 1997 book The . The book argued that substituting the word sex with gender was part of a global feminist and scheme to dissolve the family and remake society . The right has used the concept of gender ideology in many countries , including Brazil , Colombia , land , and Poland , to eliminate ministries that protect women ( 2020 ) While women have gained more political power and won passage of legislation to protect their rights over the past years , gender inequality persists . Scholar Janet Johnson ( 2018 ) explains this paradox by ing that as women have gained entrance into formal politics , real political power has shifted to informal

WOMEN AND POLiTiCAL SYSTEMS WORLDWIDE i 335 networks and institutions economic liberalization has strengthened elites outside of formal structures and constituted corrupted , informal rules and These elite networks of men control both mal and informal institutions , gender bias and limiting women power . She describes a bait and switch , where women appear to have power as policy makers but then are boxed in with little real power to make progressive social change . For example , women ministries are created or offices to combat violence against women established , but then they receive little budget or actual power to enforce the law . Or gender equality initiatives are nested in old , patriarchal institutions that engage in active resistance or passive neglect . Another wa women ower is undermined is the erosion of democracies in the last decade . ust as women are real ower , ri movements have ed across the world , such as in Brazil , Hungary , the Philippines , Poland , and the United States . autocratic leaders such as and Trump , upon coming into power , have prioritized taking away the rights of women and people . They have eroded the power of women votes as well as their ability to participate in political systems worldwide , hampering their ability to address ongoing discrimination and disadvantages they suffer . In the next section , we examine how women exercise political power outside of formal systems of ment . Around the world , women are leading grassroots social movements to expose systems of inequality and privilege , resist the rollback of their rights , and collectively build a future where all people are cared for and valued . Part II . Beyond Electoral Politics Women in Civil Society While participating in formal party politics and elections , women have also played a role in creating political and social change through activism , national social movements , and transnational feminist organizing ( 2010 ) From signing a petition to joining a flash mob , from ing coffee to blocking the construction of an oil pipeline with their bodies , women have sought to influence their communities , nations , and the world . In February 2017 , for example , women organized mass protests all over the world against the election of Donald Trump .

336 i WOMEN AND POLiTiCAL SYSTEMS March on Washington , 2017 Women have worked for women rights and social welfare , but they have also organized to combat racism and colonialism , participated in unions and labor movements , peace activism , and environmental groups , and worked on many other issues . Through community organizing , women have created tal organizations , built social movements , and formed transnational alliances to create social change . Their strategies and tactics have been varied , from lobbying and litigating to supporting public education and using the creative arts to make social change . Barrier Williams An Advocate by Shannon Barrier Williams was an outspoken advocate of civil rights at the end of the nineteenth and ning of the twentieth century . As an African American woman , she understood the need to work for racial equity and women rights systemic racism , segregation , and lynchings were still commonplace , and women had not yet gained the right to vote . In the , she was active in the Chicago women club movement , a network of women clubs devoted to social action . She helped to found the National Federation of Women and the National League of Colored later merged into the National Association of Colored Women with other prominent African America women such as Harriet Tubman and Ida . Wells . Later , she was active in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People

WOMEN AND SYSTEMS 337 ( In 1893 , she delivered an address titled The Intellectual Progress of the Colored Women of the United States since the Emancipation 18 1893 to the at the . In 1895 , she represented Illinois at the Colored Congress in Atlanta . Although she faced racism from white women rights groups , she worked with the National American Women Suffrage Association and became friends with Susan Anthony , delivering her eulogy at that organization 1907 convention . In addition to her extensive political work , she helped create the dent Hospital and subsequent homes and safe shelters for underserved communities and people of color in Chicago . Feminism has a long history with multiple starting points all over the globe , says historian Mary ( 2006 , 32 ) Even before women won the right to vote , they created , led , and participated in myriad movements seeking social reform on a wide range of issues , including education , working , pure Food , and maternal health . In the nineteenth century , women participated in and led to abolish slavery in many countries . In the early twentieth century , Ida . Wells led a movement against lynching in the United States . In 1915 , during World War I , women from warring and neutral nations gathered at The in the Netherlands to discuss how to end the war and ensure permanent peace across the world , forming the Women International League for Peace and Freedom . In the twentieth century , women played key roles in independence movements in Latin America and Africa . For example , in 1960 , three , and Maria Teresa outspoken political activists and leaders of the resistance against the dictatorship in the Dominican Republic . Their assassination in November 1960 led to the acceleration of the Dominican independence movement and the end of the dictatorship . To honor the sisters , the November was named International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women . In 1994 , Dominican American Alvarez published In the Time , a narrative of the sisters , which was later turned into a movie . More recently , Puerto Rican can actress Michelle Rodriguez and starred in a 2010 movie 73 , about the sisters .

338 WOMEN AND SYSTEMS WORLDWIDE The Democratic Front by Ahmed Pakistan Women Democratic Front ( an independent resistance ment , was founded on International Working Women Day , March , 2018 . is committed to the formation of an urban and rural women movement engaged in struggle to end archy , its interlocking socioeconomic structures , and all forms of oppression , violence , and discrimination . It struggles for gender equality , the restoration of peace , the formation of a people democracy , and the creation of a classless society . understands the oppression and exploitation of women as concretely tied to the oppression and exploitation of the Pakistani peoples as a whole , and they assert that these oppressions on the basis of gender , class , and nationality emerge from capitalism , feudalism , imperialism , and religious extremism . They struggle in solidarity with movements of workers , farmers , students , oppressed nations , and peoples . The emphasizes socialist feminism , which they describe as a Marxist viewpoint that understands capitalism and patriarchy as profoundly connected and foundational to women oppression and exploitation . This kind of feminism challenges the division of labor and is concerned with the material and social conditions of women lives . works to abolish all economic , governmental , and patriarchal structures that are based on the subjugation of women and the exploitation of their labor . The history of women is a history of class struggle , they write . frequently hosts public study circles , lectures , and conversations . In Argentina , beginning in 1977 , Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo protested against the disappearance of their children by the Argentine military . The women wore white and marched in front of the presidential palace carrying pictures of their kidnapped children . These protests grew over time , ing international attention to human rights abuses in Argentina . Disappearances were also happening in Brazil in the 19703 , including at the time was arrested . She was lucky to survive .

WOMEN AND SYSTEMS WORLDWIDE 339 . If Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo Women across the world are also working to protect Indigenous land rights and end child marriage . In Kenya , women of the community in County banded together to protect their lands when investors came in and claimed it as their own . The people , with women voices at the ter , took the developer to court with the hopes of protecting their communal lands . In India , Women Peer Groups across rural states are working to end child marriage in their communities . They are people to pledge that they won have their daughters married underage , and they are leading rallies in their villages to spread awareness about the negative impacts of child marriage ( UN Women 2019 ) Women have organized not only at the state and local level , but as well . For more than two centuries , women have organized transnational feminist networks by working on a wide range of issues , including poverty , racism , equal access to education and employment , fair wages , labor conditions , nomic injustice , imperialism , migration , health , reproductive justice , violence against women and girls , war and peace , land rights , environmental justice , and more ( 2006 , From the ning , transnational women movements often reproduced global relations of dominance , perpetuating the image of women of European origin in the lead offering a hand to their more oppressed sisters ( 1996 , 10 ) Women from colonized or formerly colonized countries , however , challenged ism in international women organizations , paving the way for a more equal global women movement . Since World War II , many Women have organized within the framework of the United Nations . In 1946 , women organizations and groups successfully lobbied the UN for the formation of the Commission on the Status of Women , a body to promote gender equality and the ment of women rights . In 1979 the UN adopted the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of crimination Against Women and in 1993 the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women .

WOMEN AND SYSTEMS Late transnational feminist organizing was anchored in four UN world conferences for Mexico City in 1975 , Copenhagen in 1980 , in 1985 , and Beijing in 1995 . The were attended by representatives of nations as well as activists from nongovernmental organizations . The Beijing conference had seventeen thousand government representatives and thirty thousand activists , and produced a comprehensive plan to achieve global legal equality , known as the Beijing Platform for Action ( UN Women 1995 ) There have also been several other UN conferences on issues , such as reproductive health and violence against women . The 1994 UN International Conference on tion and Development ( in Cairo produced a Programme of Action that was the first international agreement recognizing the right to sexual and reproductive health ( UN 2014 1994 ) In 2015 , the UN held the Ending Violence against Women conference in Istanbul , Turkey ( UN Women , in priorities created tensions at the UN conferences , with women of the Global North focused on legal equality and sexual autonomy , while women from the Global South focused more on imperialism as an obstacle to women advancement and on issues such as access to clean water and control of land 2013 , 471 ) Women have also been at the forefront of cultural work to change people hearts and minds , such as ing awareness about social issues and leading community care and mutual aid efforts . An example is the Black Power movement . Although for young Black men wearing berets and leather jackets , the Black Panthers Party created community programs led by Black women , including the Free Breakfast for School Children Program , the Liberation Schools , and the People Free Medical Centers . The Panther women in the free breakfast program cooked and served daily breakfast for ren . The program expanded to multiple cities around the country and served more than twenty sand children weekly . Inspired by the Black Panthers , children of Puerto Rican immigrants founded the Young Lords , which created similar community programs , including free breakfast , clothing donations , health services , political education , and street when the garbage services were lacking in Spanish Harlem . Another example of community care occurred in the and , during the HIV epidemic . Women all across the United States and the world led community care initiatives to care for people dying from AIDS . They brought them food , cleaned their houses , and did work that others refused to do for fear of the disease . Women have always cared about their communities when those in power ignored them . In the , women activism surged across the world , challenging war , domestic violence , exclusion from education , and more . In 2003 , Liberian women formed a peace movement that was able to end a civil war . As a strategy , they conducted sex strikes as a means to pressure men to actively the war . It worked . In 2006 , women from the badlands of central India started a collective movement to stop sexual and domestic violence by intervening in the abuse and demanding husbands to acknowledge their behavior . Their efforts have been successful . Known as the Gang , they still act as a

WOMEN AND SYSTEMS ) I 341 resource For girls and women experiencing violence . In 2009 in Pakistan , stood up to the Taliban by writing a series of blogs about how she was denied access to education and advocating for education For all girls . The Taliban tried to assassinate her . She survived a wound to her head and neck . In 2014 , she received the Nobel Prize , becoming the youngest person ever to receive this honor , and in 2020 , she graduated from Oxford University with a degree in philosophy , politics , and . Nawal El Nawal El , an internationally recognized feminist writer and doctor , died on March 21 , 2021 , at the age of 89 . Born in , Egypt , El started her feminism at the age of 10 when she ate raw eggplant to blacken her teeth to ward off suitors for an arranged marriage . El resistance continued throughout her life , making her one of the most famous feminist activists for women rights in the Arab world . El stated that she was constantly with her As a doctor , she witnessed the oppression of rural women in her community . She advocated against female mutilation , a practice that she experienced at the age of six . As a writer , she used words as an act of rebellion against and a with which to fight the Her resistance knew no even against the government . In 1981 , El challenged Anwar regime by protesting its lack of democracy and Freedom . This led to her imprisonment . In the same year , El founded the Arab Solidarity Association ( which focused on active participation in all spheres of , politically , culturally , and economically . Despite imprisonment , death threats , and hate , El continued to against injustice . In 2005 , she ran for against but later decided to boycott the election . In 2009 , she established the Egyptian chapter of the Global Solidarity for Secular Society , which worked toward removing Islam as a state religion . Nawal El legacy and work is emblematic of a radical feminist voice for social , political , and religious change . Women have since harnessed the power of the Internet and social media to create social change . In 2011 , thousands of Arab women used Twitter , YouTube , and blogs to organize protests against oppressive regimes across the Middle East . Called the Arab Spring uprisings , women from Egypt , Libya , and Yemen led antigovernment and demonstrations that resulted in the fall of many

342 WOMEN AND SYSTEMS . As mobile phones become accessible to many worldwide , regular people began sharing tion about events as they occurred on platforms with a global reach , such as Twitter , Facebook , Instagram , and . Now , memes , videos , online petitions , and much more are a central tool for women activism . Women have started many social movements through , such as , and . The most movement for racial justice in the century came from a hashtag created by three Black women organizers who started the hashtag . When Alicia Garza , Opal , and created the Black Lives Matter ( movement in response to the acquittal of Martin murderer George , they did not anticipate how the hashtag would change activism in the century . Now , more than forty chapters worldwide locally to end police brutality and state violence against Black people . The founders of the Black Lives Matter movement At the local , national , and transnational levels , women have made a impact on the world . Women have come together to raise awareness about issues they care about , organize local protests and direct actions , create community resources and mutual aid networks , and increase social justice a day at a time . Women have governments from the outside but also met the needs of their communities directly .

WOMEN AND SYSTEMS ) 343 Conclusion Over the past one hundred years , women across the world have greatly increased their representation and power within political systems . Women have fought for and won the right to vote and to run For political office . In many parts of the world , they are now sewing as heads of government , legislators , and judges as well as in other official roles . In these positions , many have worked to strengthen gender equality and social justice . But women have also sought and power outside formal political systems , through grassroots social movements and by working in their communities . While patriarchal forces have resisted and these efforts , and there is still a long way to go to achieve equality , women have made real progress both inside and outside of the system .

344 I WOMEN AND SYSTEMS Learning Activities . US politicians often describe the United States as the greatest democracy in the world . But Baker and cite Freedom House Freedom in the World 2020 report , which argues that that the United States is currently an unsteady beacon ( Read . of the report , which discusses the United States . How does Freedom House support the argument that the United States is an unsteady beacon of freedom ?

What does Freedom House argument have to do with feminism ?

What is the voting gender gap ?

How does it manifest ?

What obstacles do women face to achieving representation in government ?

What are possible gies for overcoming those obstacles ?

Baker and discuss politicians such as ( Brazil ) United States ) Franco ( Brazil ) Alexandria ( United States ) Michelle ( Chile ) Cristina Fernandez de ( Argentina ) Laura Chinchilla ( Costa ) and Ellen Johnson ( Working alone , with a partner , or in a small group , choose one of these politicians and do some online research . What was your subject path to politics ?

What ( does she hold has she held ?

What values does she espouse ?

How do supporters and critics respond to her ?

Baker and discuss US organizations that encourage women to enter the electoral process , such as Women Campaign Fund , Emerge America , List , the Institute , National Women Political Caucus , She Should Run , and Represent Women . Working alone , with a partner , or in a small group , choose one of these organizations and do some online research about it . How does your chosen organization support women participation in the electoral process ?

How do women participate in civil society beyond the electoral process ?

Provide at least three from the chapter . What do you learn about women ability to effect social change from outside of the electoral system ?

Working in a small group , add these key terms to your glossary politics , political systems , democracy , monarchy , hereditary monarch , oligarchy , plutocracy , autocracy , compulsory voting , voluntary ing , voting gender gap , heads of state , heads of government , voting systems , voting rates , political parties , electoral systems , voting system , proportional representation system , proportional system , media coverage , descriptive representation ,

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354 WOMEN AND SYSTEMS WORLDWIDE Event with Atlanta GA October 12 2020 by For President is licensed under Ellen World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2007 by World Economic Forum is licensed under Women representatives 2021 by is licensed under BY World Map by , Public domain , via Commons Gender Quotas Database by International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance 2013 Parliament . Dec 2013 by Government is licensed under Twitter post by Brianna Wu , 28 , 2018 , Gender quotas 2021 by is licensed under BY World Map by , Public domain , via Commons Gender Quotas Database by International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance Angela World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2011 by World Economic Forum is licensed under Women March on Washington by In is licensed under Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo ( de Plaza de ) by is licensed under 20161027 1920 by TED Conference is licensed under Notes . Economic context and the welfare state , as well as political context , women political participation . Women political participation is greater in economically developed nations with a welfare state as well as in nations with inclusive electoral institutions and rules that produce more proportional electoral outcomes . These systems incentivize political parties to reach out to a variety of social groups .