Boosting women's role in politics, Dutch-style
Source: DW News
Fatuma Muhumed is glowing as she arrives for an interview with DW just hours before her inauguration as a local councilor in the Dutch municipality of Apeldoorn — her first political office, on top of her job as a lawyer.
Her election was far from certain: She was ranked 15th on the candidate list of the left-leaning GroenLinks-PvdA, yet she secured one of the party's six seats. Muhumed climbed the ranks thanks to preferential voting, or "smart voting," as the campaign Stem op een Vrouw (Vote for a Woman) calls it.
How does it work?
In the Netherlands, voters don't just choose a party but select a specific candidate on a party list. Candidates are ranked by the parties, typically with their leaders at the top.
"We see more men, and then we see women lower on the lists," says Zahra Runderkamp, political scientist and lead researcher at Stem op een Vrouw.
Voters tend to favor candidates on top of these lists, but to boost women's representation, Stem op een Vrouw encourages voters to support women ranked lower down, especially those just below the projected seat threshold.
This strategy has helped Muhumed and 503 other women across the Netherlands get elected in the latest elections.
Fatuma Muhumed is glowing as she arrives for an interview with DW just hours before her inauguration as a local councilor in the Dutch municipality of Apeldoorn — her first political office, on top of her job as a lawyer.
Her election was far from certain: She was ranked 15th on the candidate list of the left-leaning GroenLinks-PvdA, yet she secured one of the party's six seats. Muhumed climbed the ranks thanks to preferential voting, or "smart voting," as the campaign Stem op een Vrouw (Vote for a Woman) calls it.
How does it work?
In the Netherlands, voters don't just choose a party but select a specific candidate on a party list. Candidates are ranked by the parties, typically with their leaders at the top.
"We see more men, and then we see women lower on the lists," says Zahra Runderkamp, political scientist and lead researcher at Stem op een Vrouw.
Voters tend to favor candidates on top of these lists, but to boost women's representation, Stem op een Vrouw encourages voters to support women ranked lower down, especially those just below the projected seat threshold.
This strategy has helped Muhumed and 503 other women across the Netherlands get elected in the latest elections.