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For Women to Have Real Political Power, We Need Quotas

Editorial / Opinion Piece / Blog Post

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October 23, 2024

For Women to Have Real Political Power, We Need Quotas

Source: Ms. Magazine

In order to achieve true parity, the U.S. needs affirmative actions—gender quotas established by law. This will ensure that women are selected, appointed and supported in politics.

Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade two summers ago, we’ve seen the most significant setback in women’s rights in living memory. The end of Roe was a watershed moment, but the seeds of our current backsliding on women’s rights were planted long before the summer of 2022: State legislatures, dominated by men, had been steadily chipping away at women’s freedoms to make decisions about their bodies, health, and futures, for years. Once the Court, tipped to the hard-right by Trump-appointed justices, gave them the green light, those legislatures went even further, passing yet more laws that repress women and put their lives at risk, particularly women of color. 

In this moment, the stakes of unequal gender representation in the halls of power are clearer than ever. The stakes are freedom or repression. Full citizenship or second-class. Life or death.

And the stakes of correcting this imbalance are clear, too. We need bold action to ensure that women finally have a meaningful role in shaping the laws under which we live, work, and make decisions about our own lives.

Read here the full article published by Ms. Magazine on 22 October 2024.

Image by Ms. Magazine

 

Author
Sandy Torrez Chavez
Partner
Inter-Parliamentary Union

In order to achieve true parity, the U.S. needs affirmative actions—gender quotas established by law. This will ensure that women are selected, appointed and supported in politics.

Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade two summers ago, we’ve seen the most significant setback in women’s rights in living memory. The end of Roe was a watershed moment, but the seeds of our current backsliding on women’s rights were planted long before the summer of 2022: State legislatures, dominated by men, had been steadily chipping away at women’s freedoms to make decisions about their bodies, health, and futures, for years. Once the Court, tipped to the hard-right by Trump-appointed justices, gave them the green light, those legislatures went even further, passing yet more laws that repress women and put their lives at risk, particularly women of color. 

In this moment, the stakes of unequal gender representation in the halls of power are clearer than ever. The stakes are freedom or repression. Full citizenship or second-class. Life or death.

And the stakes of correcting this imbalance are clear, too. We need bold action to ensure that women finally have a meaningful role in shaping the laws under which we live, work, and make decisions about our own lives.

Read here the full article published by Ms. Magazine on 22 October 2024.

Image by Ms. Magazine

 

Author
Sandy Torrez Chavez
Partner
Inter-Parliamentary Union