On this International Women’s Day, FairVote Minnesota celebrates the achievements of women leaders in the United States while recognizing we have a lot of work to do to reach gender parity.
Despite gains, the United States still ranks well below most other high-income countries in women’s representation. According to the interparliamentary union’s February update, the United States is tied with the Dominican Republic at 72nd in the world for women’s representation. Women make up only 27 percent of seats in Congress. In Minnesota, more women served in the state legislature in 2021 than ever before, but they still made up less than 36 percent of legislative seats. Unfortunately, redistricting has caused several women leaders to leave the legislature rather than run against a colleague, further aggravating the disparities.
While it’s important to recognize these disparities, acknowledgement is not enough; we need structural reform to open up our political system to more women and people of color.
Research has shown that Ranked Choice Voting levels the playing field and encourages more women and people of color to run and win. We need elections that are more diverse, representative and inclusive. While we have many exciting female candidates running for the state legislature in 2022 as well as for statewide office, these women are running in spite of barriers and outdated structures in place. We should be breaking down those barriers, and RCV can help.
To celebrate International Women’s Day and help make real the promise of electing more women, please ask your legislator to bring RCV statewide.
Thank you to all the women RCV champions at the Capitol who understand its power to make our political system more inclusive, diverse and representative.
