Women's Advancement Program
An invitation from a political party fluttered
into my e-mail inbox in the summer of 2022. The headline read, "The future
is made with women - women's advancement program." The invitation was for
a support program that would prepare candidates for the 2024 local elections.
Three modules were designed to impart knowledge about political structures,
processes, and content at the municipal level, strengthen individual soft
skills and build a political network (including a mentoring program). Politics are
often still seen as a male domain, and it is therefore important that women receive
support in this area. To this end, there
are four seminar weekends and various digital evening events. The rationale
behind the campaign: "We want to achieve equality in politics. For this,
we need more women in the groups that make political decisions. It is clear to
us that a good future can only be shaped with women in positions of
responsibility.”
When the news came out in October
2022 that women had now also gained a majority in parliament in New Zealand, I
was reminded again of how unequally women are represented in politics around
the world. In six countries, more than half of MPs are female. Worldwide, the
percentage is now 24.9 percent. In the U.S., only 27 percent of all elected
representatives in the Senate and House of Representatives are female. In the
20th German Bundestag, the percentage of women is only 34.9 percent. The list of
top countries is interesting: Rwanda, Cuba, and Bolivia have between 61 and 53
percent of women in their parliaments.
Rwanda tops the list
The fact that Rwanda boasts 61.3
percent of women in parliament is probably due not only to women's political
ambition but to the horrific genocide of 1994. Before the genocide, women in
Rwanda had few rights. They were mostly considered the property of men, nailed
down to the role of housewife and mother. The majority of those who died were
men. The majority of those who fled were men. The majority of the prisoners
were also men. So who was going to rule the country?
After the genocide, things changed
for Rwanda's women. Numerous women entered politics and enacted laws in favor
of women. They focused on promoting education for girls and women. Since 2003,
there has been a 30 percent quota for women in parliament, which is far
exceeded by current figures. Since that time, the country has experienced an
economic upswing. However, equality has not yet been achieved everywhere in
society.
Cuba
The high percentage of women in the
Cuban parliament more than half, is a result of "high-quality candidate
selection," as Politburo member José Machado Ventura told Cuban
television. In the months leading up to the election, candidates are nominated
by the country's mass organizations. Although the ruling Communist Party is not
involved, many of the candidates come from its ranks. However, this is not a
mandatory criterion. For society to be reflected in its representatives,
attention is also paid to proportional representation of the respective
occupational and age groups, women and Afro-Cubans.[1]
Bolivia
Bolivia has the third-largest
percentage of women in parliament worldwide. This development was achieved
within the last ten years. In Bolivia, a gender equality law ensures the record
participation of women in politics. [2]
In the United Arab Emirates, half of
the parliament - 20 out of 40 - is made up of appointed deputies; only the
other half is elected, and that is by 220,000 selected male and female
citizens. The political situation in Nicaragua calls the election results into
question. In Mexico, a legal quota for women ensures that there are as many
women as men in parliament.
Parity laws
In Europe, Belgium, France,
Portugal, Spain, and Slovenia have legal gender quotas for candidate lists,
each between 40 percent and 50 percent. In Germany, all attempts to pass such a
law have been declared unconstitutional. Some parties have adopted voluntary
candidate quotas for internal party candidate lists. For me, it is important
that women have the chance to be elected, but also that they sit in parliaments
and have a say in decision-making.
Not only in politics
How often I have been frustrated by
the fact that at the official constituency meetings of my church at various levels, the delegates do not
really represent the members of the church. The church membership is 65-70%
female, but women are a vanishing minority in the governing bodies. I can still
remember how the former president of the General Conference, who was Norwegian,
called on the church to send young people and women as delegates to the General
Conference sessions of the church. He said that he had no influence on this
because the delegates are determined by the Unions.
I realize that as a church we have
only a sham democracy. The grassroots members do not have direct voting rights
and thus cannot influence decisions. The local congregations can elect
delegates at the conference level who are invited to constituency meetings, but
at all other levels, the proposals of the local congregations are still sifted
by the higher levels of administration. Thus, the conference leadership decides
which of the proposed delegates will be sent to the Union assembly. The Union
chooses delegates to the General Conference without input from the
congregational base. These do not represent the church community as we understand
"representation of the people."
The excuse often given for the fact
that most of the delegates are men is that women are not interested or cannot
take time off for such meetings. There may be something to that. But that is
precisely why we need a women's advancement program in church as well, similar
to what the above party is striving for. We would have to get more women
interested in church politics, give them knowledge of how the church
organization works, and train them in how constituency meetings are run and
what opportunities for participation the parliamentary rules offer the
delegates. It would also be important for us to strengthen our soft skills and
build networks.
We already have many capable, well-educated
women who could help the church to be well-equipped for the future. What is
true for the above political party is also true for our church: "a good
future can only be shaped with women in positions of responsibility." If
we train our women so that they are well-equipped if they should get elected as
delegates, we would at least have created a good foundation for a newly
designed church organization, if it should come about. My appeal is: let's
create a good women's advancement program so that one day we will be ready!
[1] https://amerika21.de/2018/03/197321/kuba-weiblichstes-parlament
[2] https://www.blickpunkt-lateinamerika.de/artikel/bolivien-paritaetsgesetze-sorgen-fuer-hohe-frauenquote-in-politik/
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