The business case for women leadership has been built and verified multiple times—businesses are more profitable when there are more women in top leadership positions and serving on the boards. The studies point directly to the bottom line and credit it to increased productivity, better use of resources, and solution-driven strategies. So, when people complain about government spending too much money and being polarized and inefficient, doesn’t it make sense to tap into more women leaders? Currently, women now number 51% of the population, yet hold 25% of the Senate seats and 28% of the House, according to the Center for American Women in Politics (CAWP). That’s a lot of wasted talent, especially when you look at the other benefits women leaders bring to politics.
“Why Women?” asks RepresentWomen.org, an organization that promotes and enlists strategies to achieve gender parity in all levels of government in order to create a truly representative democracy. They answer that question with a quote from Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) , “We [women] want each other to succeed and find a path forward because we really leave the partisan politics at the door.” And she isn’t the only senator who says that. Her Republican colleague, Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA) told Margaret Hoover in a “Firing Line” interview on PBS that she found it easier to work with women on both sides of the aisle than with male Senators on many issues.
Senator Ernst, a survivor of sexual assault and domestic violence, co-authored the reinstatement of funding for the Violence Against Women Act, which had been allowed to expire for nearly a decade. (The Hill) But, as a combat veteran, she is also a proponent of making standards, not gender, the requirement to serve in the military and notes that many women are more physically competent than the men to serve in combat. She told Margaret that this is a waste of talent when so many women feel their purpose is to serve their country like she is doing.
Most importantly, Senator Ernst echoed what women legislators said in our earlier Women in Politics post. “Women are solutions driven. They don’t care who gets credit and which legislators’ name appear first on the bill,” she said. Missouri Minority House Leader, and now Democrat nominee for Governor, Crystal Quade, made a similar statement in her recent podcast interview with Dr. Nancy. In the heavily male Missouri House, Crystal said there were several bills she pushed for without adding her name. This a delicate balance for politicians who need to have a robust record to get backing and votes for re-election. But women walk that tightrope to get results for issues they consider important.
Represent Women says that women’s representation is about more than policy, it’s “social empowerment…Studies show that the presence of highly visible female politicians inspires political engagement and aspirations amongst young girls and women, and that men also increase their involvement when more women candidates are on the ballot.” In a democracy that depends on engagement to function, having more women participate at top levels is essential to sustaining and building the strength of our country. No one person can do it. It takes all of us to be involved in the process.
Senator Ernst hails from an Iowa family farm and visited and worked on a collective farm in Ukraine as an undergraduate among a group of 18 students. She said at the time, Ukraine was a Soviet Bloc country. The first questions the Ukrainians asked was, “What is it like to be American? What is it like to be free?” The Senator said the students told them about the opportunities and advantages available in the United States. Two years later, Ukraine separated from Russia and became a democracy. Today, Senator Ernst said that she backs our support for Ukraine. They chose democracy and are choosing to fight for it every day.
Democracy should never be taken for granted. We must work together to preserve it, and make it a more efficient, productive form of government that uses its resources wisely to support the people it serves. Senator Ernst warns that we need to work with our world-wide partners to keep terrorists from attacking us on our soil, and describes September 11 with the loss of 3,000 American lives as a monumental example of what happens when we fail. Most of all, we must work within the U.S. at all levels of government to promote the best representation possible, solutions-driven women leaders who work to reduce polarization, increase bipartisan collaboration and work together to create a “more respectful dialogue…focused on policy, not party” to represent us all.