As we mark International Women’s Day 2019, the evidence against men in politics has never been stronger. Men have been making a mess of politics since time immemorial; yet the global experiment continues.
Men have dominated every seat of power, from the Oval Office to parliaments worldwide. And what’s the result? Endless wars, economic crashes, corruption scandals, and a planet in peril. If the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over while expecting a different result, then keeping men in charge is the most dangerous form of political madness.
The empirical case for women leaders
Everywhere women have led, they’ve proven that politics doesn’t have to be synonymous with ego or destruction. From Angela Merkel’s steady stewardship of Germany to Jacinda Ardern’s compassionate crisis management in New Zealand, the data are clear: female leadership delivers stability, empathy, and progress.
Meanwhile, there’s this very noteworthy stride:
On Thursday, the most heavily female House of Representatives in U.S. history selected a woman as its leader for the next two years, setting a new high-water mark in the gender diversity of the House and Congress as a whole. …
While there are a lot more women in the House, there are slightly fewer women in the House as a percentage of all of the members of that body. A quarter of the Senate is made up of women; 23.4 percent of the House is.
(The Washington Post, January 3, 2019)
We’ve come a long way, baby. But there’s still a long way to go.
Study after study shows that when women hold real political power, countries enjoy lower levels of corruption, stronger education systems, and more responsive health care. These aren’t feminist fantasies; they’re measurable outcomes. Women govern for people. Men govern for power.
A world run by men: the track record
Men have treated government like a testosterone-driven sport where winning is the only goal and citizens are collateral damage. From Congress to the Kremlin, male leaders keep proving they’d rather posture than problem-solve.
And yet, when women succeed in politics, they’re told they’re “lucky,” “emotional,” or “too ambitious.” The hypocrisy is staggering.
For more on this recurring argument, see the iPINIONS commentary, “Men Should Be Barred from Politics.”
Significantly, I made this case years before Donald Trump made replacing men with women a categorical imperative. Time’s Up! And, continuing to vindicate this trend, Estonia elected its first female prime minister on Sunday. What’s more, she will be governing under the auspices of the first female president, whom this Baltic state elected in 2016.
By the way, if you can make it to New York City for April 10-12, you should attend Tina Brown’s 10th anniversary “Women in the World Summit.” It is a
convening of mighty women leaders, blazing activists and courageous movers and shakers who will move you with their provocative first-person storytelling and shake up your worldview.
Time to invert the experiment
So here’s a modest proposal: bar men from politics for a generation and see what happens. Let the world be governed by women — by those who already run households, communities, and businesses with more competence and less drama than any parliament full of puffed-up men.
If men can’t fix the mess they made after thousands of years in charge, maybe they should step aside and let women try. At this point, the risk of doing otherwise feels reckless.
On this International Women’s Day, don’t just post a meme or wear purple. Vote for women. Support women. Elect women. Because until women truly share power, equality is just a slogan — and democracy remains a boys’ club dressed in modern clothing.
Here’s to shaking up politics wherever you are by electing women to rule. The world has tried His Story long enough. Let’s finally make room for Her Story.
Note: With all due respect to International Women’s Day organizers, I prefer the slogan “Let Shedom Reign!”
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