11: Women and Political Systems Worldwide
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by Laureal Williams
In 1887, 27-year-old Susanna Madora “Dora” Salter was living with her husband and her four young children in the town of Argonia, 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 Argonia.
As a member of an established Quaker family, Dora was a member of the local temperance (anti-alcohol) league. With the recently granted right to vote, the league members made enforcement of prohibition a prime issue of the upcoming city election. They selected a ticket of male candidates whom they considered to be worthy of the town’s offices.
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’s 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 ballots were printed with Dora’s 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 if she would accept the office if elected. She agreed to do so. Dora’s husband was angered when he discovered Dora’s name on the ballot. He was even more perturbed when he found that his wife had consented to serve if elected. But she was undeterred.
The “lesson” backfired, and the townspeople of Argonia voted for Dora in such numbers that she received a two-thirds majority, making her the first woman mayor in the United States. When the results were known, Dora’s husband quickly adjusted to being the husband of the mayor.
Dora’s one-year term as mayor was largely uneventful, although it was recognized nationally and internationally with both praise and ridicule. During that year of service, Mayor Salter gave birth to her fifth child.
In the fall of 1887, Dora was invited to speak at the Kansas Women’s Equal Suffrage Association’s convention. Appearing on the platform with the mayor were Susan B. Anthony, Rachael Foster Avery, the Rev. Anna Shaw, and Henry Blackwell, husband of Lucy Stone. When Susan B. Anthony met Dora, she exclaimed, “Why, you look just like any other woman, don’t 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.
Part I. Women in State Politics
by Karly Michon
The US elections of 2020 had some of the 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 mail-in 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 measures include allowing people to challenge others about their voting qualifications and requiring more identification documents for mail-in voting. These types of laws are especially harmful to people that struggle to obtain identification, including the poor, elderly, and people of color.
Ideas for activism:
- Find an American Civil Liberties Union event near you, and bring a friend.
- Stay up to date on local voting policies in your area. Write letters, call, or email your representatives to make your voice heard on upcoming bills or important votes.
- Share knowledge and facts on voting issues to raise awareness and organize protests to harmful or restrictive voting laws.
- Volunteer for local candidates that support equal voting rights.
- 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 voters.
Vote!
by Shannon Garvin
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 government access appear closer than ever before, more people are involved in activism, volunteering, and even running for office. The Arab Spring movement rolled across nations, the Women’s 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 official sites with access to information to smaller one-person websites, a variety of online sources abound. As always, research information so 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 Running for and Winning Political Office
by Shaina Khan
For much of the time since Bangladesh achieved independence, a woman has been prime minister (PM). Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina have each taken multiple turns at leadership. Khaleda Zia entered politics in 1981 after her husband, then-president Zia ur-Rahman, was assassinated. In 1991, she became Bangladesh’s first woman PM. Her first term was marked by a cyclone, whose aftermath hampered her plans for the country’s economic development. Years later, she served a second term. Between her two terms, Sheikh Hasina served her first stint as PM. She is the daughter of Bangladesh’s first president and “Father of the Nation” Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. She holds the record for longest-serving PM of Bangladesh.
In her decade or more in power, each politician has found herself in trouble. In 2018, Khaleda Zia was convicted of embezzling from orphanage trusts while she was PM (she claims the charges were fabricated by opposing parties). Sheikh Hasina was criticized for her handling of violence against journalists and political activists in Bangladesh, including lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, or intersex plus (LGBTQI+) people, atheists, promoters of secular government, and opponents of her political party. In 2018, Bangladesh passed the Digital Security Act, which has been widely denounced for giving the government too much power to arrest dissenters. In 2020, at least a dozen Bangladeshis were arrested under this act for their social media posts. One of them, writer Mushtaq Ahmed, died in prison in February 2021.
Latin America set a record in 2014 for having four female presidents at the same time—in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Costa Rica. Michelle Bachelet was the first woman to be elected president of Chile, first from 2006 to 2010 and then from 2014 to 2018. Bachelet survived detention and torture under the Augusto Pinochet regime but was later nominated minister of health under President Ricardo Lagos and first ran for president with the Sociality Party of Chile in 2005. Cristina Fernández de Kirchner was the first democratically elected female president of Argentina, serving two consecutive terms from 2007 to 2015, succeeding her husband Néstor Kirchner. Laura Chinchilla was the first woman elected president of Costa Rica. As part of the Partido Liberácion Nacional (National Liberation Party), she was elected vice president of Costa Rica from 2006 to 2008 and then president of Costa Rica from 2010 to 2014. Dilma Rousseff, whose story began this chapter, was the first female president of Brazil, serving from 2011 to 2016.
Born in Manassas, Virginia, Danica Roem started her career as a journalist after receiving a bachelor’s degree in journalism from St. Bonaventure University. She worked professionally as a lead reporter of the Gainesville Times and news editor of the Montgomery County Sentinel for more than ten years before running for public office.
In 2017, as part of the Democratic Party, Roem defeated thirteen-term incumbent Republican Robert Marshall and was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates, representing District 13. Robert Marshall, a well-known Republican with anti-LGBTQI+ views, had introduced HB 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 Roem 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, Roem has been recognized for her work in infrastructure and public transportation in Virginia’s District 13. Two successful bills she has cosponsored include HB 1049, which prohibits housing, employment, banking, insurance, and public accommodation discrimination on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation, and HB 5052, which recognizes Juneteenth as a legal holiday. She also voted in favor of the successful ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment, making Virginia the thirty-eighth and final state required to ratify the ERA.
Obstacles to Achieving Representation in Government
Two women who have been in the spotlight in American politics and constantly suffer from gendered media coverage are Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris. In 2016, Clinton became the first woman nominated 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 of state. Harris was the first Black woman district attorney of San Francisco, the first 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. CBS News published the headline “Hillary Clinton: Grandmother-in-Chief?” and Times published the headline “The Pros and Cons of ‘President Grandma.’” No one has ever questioned Donald Trump’s grandfather status as a sign of unfitness for office. Trump himself publicly said of Clinton, “I just don’t think she has a presidential look, and you need a presidential look.” Trump also attacked Harris, calling her “totally unlikeable” and a “monster.” Harris experiences not only sexism but also racism. From mispronouncing her name to questioning her Americanness, commentators have othered her, treating her as less than human. Aware of the sexist media, Clinton once joked that all she needed to get front-page news coverage was to change her hair.
by Sarah Baum
Ida B. 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 support 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 of African Americans.
Ms. Wells was easily the most famous woman of color in America during her day, speaking out against racial injustice as well as for women’s rights. She became a founder of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) 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 B. 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.
Marielle Franco was an Afro-Brazilian woman elected to the City Council of Rio de Janeiro in January 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’s police. Her election 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 office. In addition, in 2020, Franco’s widow, Mônica Benício, successfully ran for a City Council seat, ensuring that the legacy Franco created lives on.
Congressman Ted Yoho (R-Florida) accosted and verbally assaulted Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) in broad daylight on the steps of the US Capitol, calling her a “fucking bitch.” Several people witnessed the exchange, including a reporter from The Hill, Congressman Roger Williams (R-Texas), who accompanied Yoho, and an adviser who accompanied Ocasio-Cortez. Yoho also called Ocasio-Cortez “disgusting” and “out of [her] freaking mind,” referring to Ocasio-Cortez’s recent statements about the spike in crime rates in New York City being connected to financial instability due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
A few days later, Yoho addressed his behavior on the House floor. Instead of acknowledging the disrespectful and aggressive nature of his speech toward Ocasio-Cortez, Yoho denied name-calling the Congresswoman. He blamed the press for attributing words to him that he had never spoken. Yoho was not even able to say Ocasio-Cortez’s name. He only addressed her as his “colleague from New York.” He invoked the all-too-familiar and classic “I-have-a-wife-and-daughter” 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 cannot 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 floor of the House of Representatives, Ocasio-Cortez addressed Yoho’s behavior and responded to his non-apology. She stated that she is familiar with this type of language, as are women everywhere. She brought up the “I-have-a-daughter” 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.
AOC's floor speech
Strategies to Increase Women’s Representation in Politics
Women and Political Power
The Gender Equality Paradox
Part II. Beyond Electoral Politics: Women in Civil Society
by Shannon Garvin
Fannie Barrier Williams was an outspoken advocate of civil rights at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth century. As an African American woman, she understood the need to work for racial equity and women’s rights: systemic racism, segregation, and lynchings were still commonplace, and women had not yet gained the right to vote.
In the 1890s, she was active in the Chicago women’s club movement, a network of women’s clubs devoted to social action. She helped to found the National Federation of Afro-American Women and the National League of Colored Women—which later merged into the National Association of Colored Women (NACW)—along with other prominent African America women such as Harriet Tubman and Ida B. Wells. Later, she was active in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). In 1893, she delivered an address titled “The Intellectual Progress of the Colored Women of the United States since the Emancipation Proclamation—May 18, 1893” to the World’s Congress of Representative Women at the Chicago Columbian Exposition. In 1895, she represented Illinois at the Colored Woman’s Congress in Atlanta.
Although she faced racism from white women’s rights groups, she worked with the National American Women Suffrage Association and became friends with Susan B. Anthony, delivering her eulogy at that organization’s 1907 convention. In addition to her extensive political work, she helped create the Provident Hospital and subsequent homes and safe shelters for underserved communities and people of color in Chicago.
by Qamar Ahmed
Pakistan’s Women’s Democratic Front (WDF), an “independent socialist-feminist resistance movement,” was founded on International Working Women’s Day, March 8, 2018. WDF is committed to the formation of an urban and rural working-class women’s movement engaged in struggle to end patriarchy, its interlocking socioeconomic structures, and all forms of gendered oppression, violence, and discrimination. It struggles for gender equality, the restoration of peace, the formation of a people’s democracy, and the creation of a classless society.
WDF 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 marginalized peoples.
The WDF emphasizes socialist feminism, which they describe as a Marxist viewpoint that understands capitalism and patriarchy as profoundly connected and foundational to women’s oppression and exploitation. This kind of feminism challenges the gendered division of labor and is concerned with the material and social conditions of women’s lives. WDF works to abolish all economic, governmental, societal, 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. WDF frequently hosts public study circles, lectures, and conversations, which can be accessed here.
by Juliet Schulman-Hall
Nawal El Saadawi, an internationally recognized feminist writer and doctor, died on March 21, 2021, at the age of 89. Born in Kafr Tahlah, Egypt, El Saadawi 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 Saadawi’s resistance continued throughout her life, making her one of the most famous feminist activists for women’s rights in the Arab world.
El Saadawi stated that she was constantly “dissatisfied with her surroundings.” As a doctor, she witnessed the oppression of rural women in her community. She advocated against female genital mutilation, a practice that she experienced at the age of six. As a writer, she used words as an “act of rebellion against injustice” and a “weapon with which to fight the system.”
Her resistance knew no bounds—fighting even against the government. In 1981, El Saadawi challenged Anwar Sadat’s regime by protesting its lack of democracy and freedom. This led to her two-month imprisonment. In the same year, El Saadawi founded the Arab Women’s Solidarity Association (AWSA), which focused on women’s active participation in all spheres of society—socially, politically, culturally, and economically.
Despite imprisonment, death threats, and hate, El Saadawi continued to fight against injustice. In 2005, she ran for president of Egypt against Hosni Mubarak 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 Saadawi’s legacy and work is emblematic of a radical feminist voice for social, political, and religious change.
Conclusion
Learning Activities
References
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Further Reading
Bolzendahl, Catherine. 2009. “Making the Implicit Explicit: Gender Influences on Social Spending in Twelve Industrialized Democracies, 1980–99.” Social Policy: International Studies in Gender, State and Society 16, no. 1, 40–81. https://doi.org/10.1093/sp/jxp002.
CAWP. 2012. The Gender Gap: Attitudes on Public Policy Issues. New Brunswick, NJ: CAWP, Eagleton Institute of Politics, Rutgers University. https://cawp.rutgers.edu/sites/defau...tudes-2012.pdf.
Eyrich, Tess. 2019. “Female Presidents Are Held to Higher Standards Than Males.” UC Riverside News. February 19, 2019. https://news.ucr.edu/articles/2019/0...tandards-males.
Trowsdale, Alison. 2018. “The Power-Sharing Dream: Where Women Rule in the World.” BBC News. July 15, 2018. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-44454914.
Image Attributions
11.1 “Foto oficial da presidenta Dilma Rousseff” by Palácio do Planalto is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0
11.2 Infographic by freedomhouse.org, copyright © Freedom House 2020
11.3 Europe, Asia-Pacific regions were front-runners in women’s suffrage by pewresearch.org, copyright © Pew Research Center 2020
11.4 “Photo W-0701L” by public.resource.org is licensed under CC BY 2.0
11.5 “Event with Stacey Abrams – Atlanta, GA – October 12, 2020” by Biden For President is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
11.6 “Ellen Johnson Sirleaf – World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2007” by World Economic Forum is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
11.7 “Women representatives 2021” by OSU OERU is licensed under CC BY 4.0 / World Map by Petr Dlouhý, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons / Gender Quotas Database by International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance
11.8 “Umushyikirano 2013, Rwanda Parliament , 6-7 Dec 2013” by Rwanda Government is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0
11.9 Twitter post by Brianna Wu, Aug 28, 2018, 6:51 PM
11.10 “Gender quotas 2021” by OSU OERU is licensed under CC BY 4.0 / World Map by Petr Dlouhý, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons / Gender Quotas Database by International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance
11.11 “Angela Merkel – World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2011” by World Economic Forum is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
11.12 “Women’s March on Washington” by Mobilus In Mobili is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
11.13 “Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo (Madres de Plaza de Mayo)” by willposh is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
11.14 “TEDWomen2016_20161027_0MA12721_1920” by TED Conference is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0