More Women in Politics
The historic night when Alexandria-Ocasio Cortez a.k.a AOC unseated veteran Joe Crowley for the oldest seat in New York came to my mind when a colleague mentioned policy windows while presenting a sexual assault case in class this week.
Policy windows are “punctuations” or events that shift us away from the incremental and deliberative style of policy making to one that fosters innovation and speed in the way decisions are made. E.g. Elections, COVID-19.
As a result of the victories of AOC and many others, more women are running for office in America than ever before. Combined with Jacinda Ardern’s victory and her recent handling of COVID-19, the stories made me reflect on how gender equity can lead to better policy making and in turn increase the rate of our progress in ending violence against women. Women’s rise to leadership in the US and the world have swung open the window for change.
Women legislators get more done. There is a positive correlation between gender balance and policy making (Swers, 2005). Clinton’s run and AOC’s election, along with Jacinda Ardern’s re-election made me think about what all of this means for ethics, law and moral in our society.
Female governance can have greater influence on our socio-political attitudes (Kliff, 2018). Numerous examples and case studies have shown women to be more involved in conversations about equity and substantive equality in not just gender but a host of other social issues.
For instance, women from the Umoja village in Kenya grow up in a community where women rule and men are banned.
Matriarchal societies were women make decisions around the world have shown that female leadership can guarantee outcomes that men have empirically cared less about, including rape or sexual assault. And yes, while the judiciary has final say over laws and is strictly separate from legislature (the politicians), policy implications matter as they set the context for what’s to come.
Women care more about women’s law. By encouraging women to run for office and electing them to power, we start to increase their representation and change the way they are perceived by future generations. Changing public perception also helps us build civic foundations that can help us redefine definitions of rape and sexual assault as acts of violence in society. Something that men have terribly failed to do and cannot be excused for.
Evaluation is a necessity and women do it well. Feminist modes of evaluation have often led to more successful qualitative and quantitative approaches to understanding data (Podems, 2020).
By increasing participation of women in leadership and creating partnerships or coalitions based on equity instead of equality, we can change the status-quo at a faster rate, making it easier and faster for judges to decide on cases. Closing the gap between how we treat rape and how we treat homicide in courts of law.
To do this, communication is key. The media and social media can be an effective tool to counterbalance gender imparity and tackle sexual violence. Netflix documentaries like “Hillary” and the infamous “Knock Down the House” start to set a different tone for many of the causal factors affecting violence against women along with the levels of gender discrimination associated with it. The age of Instagram and getting to see AOC cook her food starts to personalize our connections with our leaders and helps us believe them more, making their causes more important and our perceptions more substantial as well.
While these victories create important punctuations in the violence against women policy equilibrium, we must also stop to think of the realities women face once they get to office. Sentiments from AOC after her election reflected on hostility at her workplace as a result of her male colleagues thinking they are genuinely “better” than her and also thinking that her success starts to “destroy their hegemony”. There is a fine line between rhetorical punches and literal ones and that shouldn’t be the case.
To ensure a standard for the treatment and respect for women in leadership, we must must accept our wrongdoings and make others accept them as well.
October 13th 2020 was a historic night for women in Bangladesh as the government approved death penalty for rape after weeks of civil unrest resulting from a viral video of a 37 year old woman being raped by a group of men. With parliament not sitting, the government passed the decision that was long time in coming, directly into the country’s laws.
The victory levelled rape and homicide, setting a new standard for participation and involvement of civic society at the highest level of decision making in Bangladesh.
Listening to civic society is imperative in order to redefine problems. With 30% of Bangladesh’s population now comprising of youth aged between 10–24 inclusive governance proved to be key as the revolts successfully helped change the status quo (Ahmed, 2020).
Changing the status quo doesn’t usually mean shifting the needle. While the uprising did its part in de-stigmatizing victims from talking about their experiences, the debate was focused less on improving status of women and more on punishment instead. Leading to a final decision that lacked stakeholder consultation and evidence-based input.
With less than 1% of reported cases resulting in conviction and an absence of witness protection laws, the recent ruling tries to address the problem without focusing on increased reporting or de-stigmatization.
Combined with the fact that the penal code also excludes marital rape, the death penalty decision can be thought of more as an informational policy instrument aimed to change perception rather than one that effectively addresses the status-quo of rape in Bangladesh.
Democracy is a team sport and we can’t win with half the team.
To me, real progress would mean accepting that our baseline is flawed and addressing the impact of population density in urban and rural areas across the country. However, in order to do that we need to ensure participation of our women and girls at all levels of civic and political society.
Time is of the essence as the window for change is still open.
Citations
Ahmed, A. (2020, October 23). OP-ED: A place for the youth in governance. Retrieved from https://www.dhakatribune.com/opinion/op-ed/2020/10/23/op-ed-a-place-for-the-youth-in-governance?fbclid=IwAR0omIuwVuZT5iEAOb40TMSy_wk276_dLrqD7BBEkznzTkZfAxg844xlbJk
Graham, D. A. (2020, July 22). Congress Is a Hostile Workplace. Retrieved from https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/07/congress-hostile-workplace/614443/
Karimi, F. (2019, January 30). She grew up in a community where women rule and men are banned. Retrieved from https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/30/africa/samburu-umoja-village-intl-asequals-africa/index.html
Kliff, S. (2018, June 27). Research shows electing women makes a real difference in people’s lives. Retrieved from https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/6/27/17433986/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-beats-joe-crowley-women-elected-policy-research
Podems, D. (2020, July 20). Feminist Evaluation and Gender Approaches: There’s a Difference? Retrieved from https://www.betterevaluation.org/en/resources/discussion_paper/feminist_eval_gender_approaches
Swers, M. L. (2005). Connecting Descriptive and Substantive Representation: An Analysis of Sex Differences in Cosponsorship Activity. Legislative Studies Quarterly, 30(3), 407–433. doi:10.3162/036298005x201617