What Happens When Both Women and Men Make Policy?

This year, New Zealand’s Parliament became a majority-female chamber for the first time in history.

Source: Photo by Jonas Horsch/Pexels

This shift occurred when Labour MP, Soraya Peke-Mason, was sworn in as the replacement for former Speaker, Trevor Mallard. New Zealand has been a forerunner in gender equity, since being the first self-governing country to give women the vote in the late 1800s.

How is the rest of the world doing?

According to UN Women, only 26 percent of national parliamentarians around the world are women. With only six countries now achieving 50 percent or greater women in parliament, we’re expected to reach gender parity in national legislative bodies around the year 2063.

The benefits of women in political leadership

Reaching gender parity in parliament ensures more attention is given to pro-women policies, which also extend to family and children-focused policies, that more women’s voices will be heard and reported in the media, that less sexual harassment and abuse is tolerated, and that girls can have role models and aspire to be future politicians.

Pro-women policies tend to focus on, as you may have guessed, issues that are important to women. These include economic equality for women, including greater workforce participation, superannuation or retirement savings, paid parental leave for mothers and extending parental leave periods for fathers, and affordable childcare; ending violence against women and children, women’s health and well-being initiatives, such as perinatal mental health, increased funding for caring professions, and reducing homelessness; and other important societal problems, like ensuring people have access to drinking water and increasing safety on roads and walkways.

When we exclude women’s voices

Policy is often based on the data we have, and according to Caroline Criado-Perez, our data is biased toward men. There is a gender data gap that has led to data and subsequent policies that are based on male bodies and behaviors. For example, crash test dummies are built to reflect the average man, and women have been less protected in car accidents. Even everyday items, like pianos, were designed to accommodate male musicians.

How to increase women’s political representation

In 2016, my colleagues and I published a paper in Leadership Quarterly with the tagline, "Quotas: you might not like them, but they work." We found that 74 countries had some form of target or quota in place for women in parliaments with varying degrees of success. Clear quotas for seats (not just nominations) and enforcing those quotas (with sanctions) were the strongest factors for successfully increasing female representation in parliaments.