Act like a Lady: Why Women Can and Must Help Run the World
Posted 1:43 PM by Internal Voices in Labels: 12th Edition |
| UN PhotoChristopher Herwig |
Mariah Mercer, UNIC, Canberra, Australia
Nowadays, there are less than 20 female world leaders out of more than 200. Although there are more women in governments today than ever before, women are still outnumbered 4 to 1 in legislatures around the world, according to a 2010 World Bank report. The parity zone, the point at which it is considered that women have achieved equality in government, is between 40 and 60 per cent. It will take developed countries at least 20 years and other countries close to 40 years to reach that level. Lest the picture looks too grim, there are some signs of progress – continued and faster increases in the proportion of female parliamentarians and the recent elections of women such as Julia Gillard to Prime Minister in Australia, and Dilma Rousseff to President in Brazil – but clearly the world has a far way to go in achieving gender equality in electoral politics.
WHY GENDER EQUALITY? First, women’s political participation is a fundamental prerequisite for any democracy. Gender disparity is a form of political inequality and incompatible with the basic tenets of democracy. Second, women’s political participation is essential to bring stronger attention to women’s issues. According to a 2007 study by Gerrity et al., women as a group introduce more legislative bills that relate to women's issues than men, and they support these bills throughout the legislative process. Studies of women and development also indicate that women’s social economic status improves as more women hold elected office, thus improving overall economic development through the influence of policies that ensure equal rights and access to services. UNIFEM has also stated that women in public offices encourage greater political engagement by ordinary women.
BRIDGE BUILDERS. One under-emphasized reason to increase female electoral representation is the “feminine” approach to leadership and decision-making. While not all women lead in the same ways – nor do all men –, general studies have noted statistically significant differences between genders. Women's leadership style has been found to differ from men's, and incorporating it can contribute to democratically-sound political processes. Research suggests that women are more likely than men to prefer democratic decision-making processes. In fact, the largest overall sex difference in leadership styles was a female preference for democratic approaches while men opted for autocratic styles. This startling difference was found by Eagerly and Johnson in a study in 1990. In addition, studies by Kimmel et al. also show that males are more likely to rely on both coercion and expert power, while females are more likely to rely on connection power and the power of important relationships.
Women appear to be bridge builders: they are more likely to solicit input from others and are generally more likely to encourage participation. Female leaders are far more likely than men to describe themselves as transforming subordinates' self-interest into concern for the whole organization, according to a 1990 Rosener study. Literature from a variety of fields has found that women, who are more likely to engage in cooperative behavior, are more concerned than men with achieving consensus and emphasize interpersonal relations. This can have an impact on the legislative process. A 1994 study from Kathlene showed that female committee chairs are less likely to dominate proceedings and more likely to foster discussions among participants.
LET THE WOMEN IN. In order to best capitalize on the potential benefits of feminine leadership styles, it is essential to increase the number of women in power. Eagly and Johnson have found that in organizations with more men, women’s behavior appeared more like that of men. The researchers theorized that this occurred because women in male-dominated environments may have to adopt more typically male styles in order not to lose authority and position.
This style of leadership is increasingly relevant in the realm of international relations.At the beginning of the 20th century and before, nations functioned in relative isolation and faced more conventional threats that were political-military in nature. Power that was more coercive in nature and the culturally-accepted view of a strong leader as one who demonstrates the assertive “masculine” leadership traits like dominance, was more relevant.
Today, however, the international community is increasingly facing problems without passports, challenges that cannot be addressed by one country alone or by force. Collective action and consensus models, not armies, are required to address fundamental challenges such as climate change, pandemics and nonproliferation. These systems and challenges require what Joseph Nye calls “soft power,” the ability to obtain what one wants through co-option and attraction, a type of power very much in keeping with women’s leadership style and its reliance on connection power, democratic decision-making and the development of relationships. This feminine leadership style is more conducive to reaching effective solutions to today's problems than traditional coercive approaches and can thus contribute to more productive diplomacy between countries.
AN ENRICHING PROSESS. Increasing women's political representation has the potential not just to change which decisions are made, but also to improve and enrich the decision-making process. The addition of far more women elected officials can contribute to a feminine leadership style, which can, in turn, help create a more inclusive, democratically-sound political process for everyone involved.
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